HC Deb 24 January 1991 vol 184 c280W
Mr. Ralph Howell

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much manpower in the whole of the public sector has changed between 1978–79 and 1988–89; by how much civil service manpower has changed between those dates; what would have been the changes in manpower for the whole of the public sector if it had changed at the same rate as civil service manpower; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Mellor

The information is as follows:

1981, civil servants transferred to a new employer on privatisation are entitled to redundancy compensation, which is identical to that available under the principal civil service pension scheme. The question of reduction in redundancy compensation therefore does not arise.

Sir David Mitchell

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the value of redundancy payments to(a) a civil service employee and (b) an employee of a normal commercial undertaking.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

The Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 requires employers to make redundancy payments. The Act does not apply to the civil service. However, arrangements have been made to ensure that redundancy payments to civil servants are at least comparable with the requirements of the Act and, in common with other good employers, the civil service provides payments which are in almost all cases more favourable than those requirements. The compensation terms are set out in section 10 of the principal civil service pension scheme.