HC Deb 03 May 1989 vol 152 cc129-30W
Mr. Sean Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, with respect to the support grades in his Department(a) what is the number of staff employed, (b) how many vacancies there are and how many of these have existed for over one month and over three months, (c) how many temporary and casual appointments there are and (d) how much overtime was worked by them in London and elsewhere.

Mr. Ridley

The support grades in my Department mainly comprise staff from the messenger, reprographics and paperkeeping groups, cleaners and office keepers. For my Department, including the Property Services Agency, the information as at 1 April 1989 is:

  1. (a) there were 856 staff in these grades;
  2. (b) there were 38 vacancies. Nineteen had been vacant for over one month, 13 of them for over three months;
  3. (c) vacancies were covered by casual staff when they arose. Casual staff are recruited locally and no central record is kept.

My Department and the Department of Transport shared common citizenship until 31 March 1989. Average overtime worked by the two Departments was 6.4 hours in London headquarters and 1¼ hours in regional offices. In PSA the average was 3.1 hours in London and 3.6 hours elsewhere.