§ Mr. Harry GreenwayTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil servants are in post at the current time; what the figure was 10 years ago; what was the average pay of a civil servant in 1979 and what it is at the present time; what are the figures in real terms; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RyderThere were 567,073 civil servants in post on 1 July 1989 compared with 732,275 on 1 April 1979. The average pay of a civil servant, taken as the pay of an administrative officer—the grade with by far the largest number of staff in post—at the top of the scale was £3,627 in April 1979 and £8,305 in October 1989; that represents an increase of 129 per cent. or, after adjusting for inflation, a real increase of 14 per cent.