§ Mr. SpellarTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the present staffing level of the Export Credit Guarantees Department; what is the projected level under the draft corporate plan; and what are the terms of reference of the external report commissioned on the ECGD.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe total staff employed in ECGD at present is 601. The staffing level projected by the draft corporate plan at April 1997 is 524.
The terms of reference for the external review of ECGD are:
1. To consider and advise on the appropriate size and nature of the central services, in particular personnel, finance, IT, audit, management review, procurement and facilities management which ECGD needs to support its business effectively, taking account of:the constraints under which the Government Departments are required to operate, in particular with regard to Government accounting, and the personnel and other management policies of the Government;the current state of, and future strategy for ECGD's IT and other systems;its business objectives.2. To advise on the pace at which any changes should or could be made.
- (a) without regard to ECGD's current running cost cash limits;
- (b) with a view to containing any additional running cost expenditure within existing running cost limits; having regard to the ability of ECGD to place any surplus staff in other Government Departments or public sector organisations.
3. To advise on the implementation of any recommendations, having regard to the need to maintain the integrity and viability of ECGD's business operations.