§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all categories of people separately defined in "Public Bodies 1986" who were classified as civil servants in 1979; and if he will state (a) the total and (b) the percentage by which the Civil Service has been reduced if all those no longer called civil servants are disregarded.
§ Mr. John MacGregorThree bodies listed in "Public Bodies 1986" — the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, the Health and Safety Commission and Executive, and the Manpower Services Commission — are staffed by civil servants. This situation has not changed since 1979.
Apart from these, the categories of people separately defined in "Public Bodies 1986" who were classified as civil servants in 1979 but whose status has subsequently changed are the staff of the Victoria and Albert museum, the Science museum, the Countryside Commission, the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, Royal Botanic Gardens and the state hospital management committee of the National Health Service Authority in Scotland.
The total reduction in the Civil Service from 1 April 1979 to 1 April 1986 is 134,800–18.5 per cent.—if we disregard the civil servants whose status has changed since 1979. Excluding the bodies listed above from the 1979 figures does not significantly affect the percentage change. The unadjusted change is 18.8 per cent.