§ Mr. LeightonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many staff were employed by the employment service for each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. EggarThe numbers of permanent staff employed by the employment service on the stated date of each of the last 10 years is as follows:
Numbers 1 January 1980 *31,500 1981 *33,000 1982 *39,000 1983 *38,500 1984 *38,000 1985 *35,500 1986 *36,000 1987 *41,500 1 April 1988 38,801 1989 35,358 In addition, the employment service employed 376 and 1,175 casual staff at 1 April 1988 and 1 April 1989 respectively.
The starred figures are approximations which are roughly comparable to the permanent staff figures for 1988 and 1989—as the employment service did not exist before October 1987, it was necessary to construct them from staff returns for the various parts of the group which eventually formed or contributed to the formation of the employment service.