§ Lord Finsbergasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many civil servants were in post at the end of May 1979 and at the end of May 1993 and what were the relevant numbers on the same dates employed in local government.
The Earl of CaithnessThere were 732,275 permanent civil servants in post at 1st April 1979 arid 554,212 at 1st April 1993, a fall of 24 per cent. over the period. The number of employees in local government was 2,368,000 in mid-1979 and 2,087,000 in mid-1993 (provisional), a decline of 12 per cent. Data are not available for the exact dates requested.