HC Deb 09 March 1988 vol 129 cc226-7W
95. Mr. Cran

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many members of staff within his Department are located within each region outside London; what percentage this constitutes of staff within his Department; and what were the comparable figures, in absolute and percentage terms in 1979.

Mr. Ridley

The following tables show the numbers of staff in my Department located within each of the Department of the Environment and Property Service Agency regional areas' outside the London regional area at 1 February 1988, together with the percentages which those numbers represent of my total staff:

Region Number Per cent.
Department of the Environment
East 912 2.8
East Midlands 104 0.3
North 112 0.3
North West 245 0.8
South East 21 0.1
South West 664 2.1
West Midlands 127 0.4
Yorks and Humberside 126 0.4

Region Numberr Per cent.
Properly Services Agency
East 2,874 8.9
Midlands 1,453 4.5
North East 1,639 5.1
North West (including some staff in Northern Ireland) 1,385 4.3
South 1,656 5.1
South East 2,401 7.4
South West 2,572 8.0

In addition there were 1,981 (6.1 per cent.) staff in Scotland, 1,227 (3–8 per cent.) in Wales and 504 (1.6 per cent.) abroad.

Figures for 1979 were:

Region Number Per cent.
Department of the Environment
East 1,381 2.7
East Midlands 235 0.5
North 383 0.5
North West 353 0.7
South East 1,288 2.5
South West 948 1.8
West Midlands 292 0.6
Yorks and Humberside 247 0.5
Property Services Agency
East 2,432 4.7
Midlands 2,725 5.3
North East 2,790 5.4
North West (including some staff in Northern Ireland) 2,551 4.9
South 2,933 5.7
South East 4,401 8.5
South West 4,643 9.0

There were 3,253 (6.3 per cent.) staff in Scotland, 1,995 (3.7 per cent.) in Wales and 802 (1.6 per cent.) abroad.

1 The joint Department of the Environment/Department of Transport regions and the PSA regions cover different areas.

These figures cannot be compared directly with those for 1988 as there have been major organisational changes since 1979 including privatisation and hiving-off of functions.