§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what would be the estimated net annual recurrent cost savings if the London-based Overseas Development Administration jobs were dispersed to the Glasgow-East Kilbride area.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe main recurrent saving from moving the Overseas Development Administration London-based posts to East Kilbride would be on accommodation costs and would be approximately £1.9 million a year at January 1988 prices. Other recurrent savings, for example on London weighting, would probably be broadly offset by the additional recurrent costs of relocation, including travel.
This estimate takes no account of unquantifiable efficiency losses arising from the separation of such a significant element of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from the remainder of that office. Nor does it take account of the capital and other non-recurrent costs of relocation, or of costs which would accrue to other Government Departments and public bodies.
§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will place in the Library copies or summaries of the reviews and studies that the Overseas Development Administration has made into further dispersal of its work to East Kilbride since the initial dispersal exercise in 1981.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe matter has been kept under review on a continuing basis since 1981, as part of the wider exercise to ensure that the Government met their commitment to disperse to the west of Scotland functions providing at that time 2,050 jobs, and as part of a regular programme of internal Overseas Development Administration management reviews. The conclusion has always been that there were no further major blocks of work which could be dispersed without unacceptable loss of efficiency, although minor changes have been made. As my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs told the House on 3 November 1987, I re-examined the question last year as a result of representations from the Overseas Development Administration's local trade union sides in London and East Kilbride, but concluded that there was no case for a further major dispersal programme.
§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give the number of Overseas Development Administration posts dispersed to East Kilbride as a result of the reviews and studies which the Administration has carried out since the initial dispersal exercise in 1981.
§ Mr. Chris PattenOne hundred and sixty-seven posts in the Crown Agents pensions division were dispersed to East Kilbride in 1982. The Crown Agents pensions division was incorporated in the Overseas Development Administration's pensions department on 1 December 1987. Three posts dealing with arrangements for joint funding of projects with non-governmental organisations were transferred to East Kilbride from London in 1983. It was decided last year that consultancies department (10 posts based in London) should form part of overseas manpower department (based in East Kilbride). The implications of this for the structure of the department and location of jobs are currently being examined.
409WIn addition we have nine staff in new posts created in East Kilbride since 1981 in specialist areas such as information technology and internal audit.