§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the reduction in the number of persons by grade and gender employed by her Department and associated offices and agencies, nationally and regionally over the next three years, as a result of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget statement of 29 November, indicating which branch, agency and region will be affected and stating her estimate of the number of job losses in each year which will be by(a) natural wastage, (b) voluntary redundancy and (c) compulsory redundancy; and what estimate she has made of the yearly total of savings in wages and associated costs as a result of these reductions in each Department, branch and agency.
§ Mr. SackvilleWe have announced that by 31 March 1997 the number of staff in the Department, excluding the agencies, will reduce by 21 per cent.—some 715 posts—compared with 1 April 1994. No decision has yet been made on the distribution of this reduction by grade or location or the spread over time.
The Department has launched a voluntary retirement and severance scheme which closes on 31 January 1995 with the aim of avoiding compulsory redundancy.
As announced in the Budget statement, administration spending for the Department as a whole will decline by 18.8 per cent. in real terms by 1997–98. This figure includes savings from wages and associated costs.
All the above figures exclude the staff and costs of regional health authorities which, subject to legislation, will become regional offices of the national health service executive on 1 April 1996.