§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Prime Minister what is her estimate of(a) total costs, and (b) numbers employed in (i) the Prime Minister's Department, (ii) the Prime Minister's press office, (iii) remainder of 10 Downing street establishments in the latest available year and the increase in each since 1979.
§ The Prime MinisterThe total cost of maintaining and running my office in 1988–89 was £6,533,712. However, since 1979 there have been several developments which have affected the way in which the costs are assessed, including
introduction of charging for aircraft by the Ministry of Defence in 1981–82;abolition of the CPRS in 1983, and the absorption of some of its staff within the No. 10 policy unit;introduction of charging for buildings and services by the PSA in 1983–84;introduction for charging of service personnel at Chequers by the MoD in 1984–85;changes in the allocation of charges for the Government car service in 1984–85;inclusion of costs of office services from 1986–87;inclusion of the cost of redecoration of certain State Rooms and of major and security works in 1988–89.When the effects of these developments are excluded (as far as it is possible to do so) and the result expressed in constant price terms, the cost has decreased by some 4 per cent. between 1979–80 and 1988–89.
The costs of my press office were not recorded separately before 1987–88; in 1988–89 these amounted to £419,326, an increase in constant price terms of 3.4 per cent. over the previous year.
The total number of staff in my office at present is 68, including eight in the press office, compared with 71 in 1979.