§ Sir John Biggs-Davisonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the effect of the introduction of the £1 coin on employment at the Bank of England printing works in Loughton; to what extent any redundancies have been voluntary; and whether there is to be any redeployment of Loughton personnel elsewhere in the bank's service.
§ Mr. Ian Stewart[pursuant to his reply, 11 June 1985, c. 401]: Some 200 staff have left the Bank of England's printing works without replacement during the last two years, in the main as a result of the decision to introduce the £1 coin and to cease issuing the £1 note. Over half of this reduction was achieved through the operation of a voluntary selective severance scheme, the remainder through natural wastage. As the staff concerned were 441W involved with the production of bank notes—printers, guillotine operators, examiners etc.—there was no scope for their redeployment elsewhere in the Bank of England.