HC Deb 01 November 1989 vol 159 cc199-201W
Mr. Winnick

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her advisers, their terms and length of appointment and salaries.

The Prime Minister

My current advisers, who are not career civil servants, are:

  1. G. D. Bourne
  2. Sir Percy Cradock
  3. A. Dunlop
  4. Professor B. Griffiths
  5. G. Guise
  6. H. Harris-Hughes
  7. Mrs. A. Ponsonby
  8. I. K. Whitehead

The conditions of service are broadly the same as those for established civil servants. The appointments may be terminated at the end of the current Administration; following a general election; or if the Minister who appointed them moves on. It is not our practice to reveal the salaries of advisers as they are individually negotiated in relation to previous outside earnings and are therefore confidential.

Mr. Winnick

To ask the Prime Minister what are her plans regarding appointing a successor to Professor Walters as her economic adviser; and if she will make a statement.

The Prime Minister

I have at present no plans to do so.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Prime Minister how many advisers who were not career civil servants, indicating whether part time or full time, she had in 1979–80; and how many in each year since.

The Prime Minister

I have had the following number of advisers in the policy unit since 1979:

Year Full-time Part-time
1979 2
1980 2
1981 2
1982 4
1983 11
1984 11
1985 8
1986 7
1987 4
1988 6
1989 6

In addition Sir Percy Cradock has been my foreign affairs adviser since 1984. Professor Alan Walters was my economic adviser from 1981 until 1983 on a full-time basis and this year on a part-time basis. I have also had a personal assistant full-time from 1979 until 1986 and part-time since then.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list all her current advisers who are not career civil servants, giving their date of appointment and fees.

The Prime Minister

My current advisers in the policy unit are:

Appointed
Professor B. Griffiths 1985
G. Guise 1986
G. D. Bourne 1988
A. Dunlop 1988
I. K. Whitehead 1988
H. Harris-Hughes 1989

In addition Sir Percy Cradock has been my foreign affairs adviser since 1984. Mrs. A. Ponsonby has been my personal assistant since February.

It is not the Government's practice to reveal the salaries of advisers as they are individually negotiated in relation to previous outside earnings and are therefore confidential.

Mr. Dobson

To ask the Prime Minister what was the cost of the Prime Minister's advisers who were not career civil servants in 1979–80 and each succeeding year.

The Prime Minister

The total expenditure on the salaries of my advisers since 1981 is as follows (the figures for earlier years are no longer available).

Year £
1981 35,762.50
1982 75,569.25
1983 1167,126.97
1984 145,022.52
1985 188,654.82
1986 210,746.87
1987 239,459.46
1988 215,379.85
21989 141,142.00

1In 1983 the CPRS was abolished and a few members became ministerial advisers.

2 To date.