§ Mr. Parryasked the Minister for the Civil Service how many Civil Service jobs have been transferred to (a) Liverpool and (b) Merseyside in each year since the implementation of the Hardman report on dispersal of Civil service personnel to the latest available date; and how these figures compare with the original recommendation of the Hardman report.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe dispersal programme announced in July 1974 was based on the Hardman report. It included 4,440 posts for transfer to Merseyside, of which 2,467 were for Liverpool. Between July 1974 and April 1979, 40 posts were transferred, 27 of which were to Liverpool.
A revised dispersal programme was announced on 26 July 1979. I refer the hon. Gentleman to my written reply of 28 March for details of progress towards implementation of the Merseyside package. Numbers of posts dispersed for each separate year are not held centrally.