§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff are employed by the economics division of the Bank of England; at what cost to the Exchequer directly or indirectly; and whether he will propose that that division should be contracted out to the private sector.
§ Mr. NelsonThe Bank of England employs around 75 people in the economics division including secretarial, clerical and information technology staff. The costs of these functions are in effect met by the bank's income from non-interest bearing deposits placed with the bank by the banking sector. There is no cost to the Exchequer.
I understand that the bank has no plans to contract out this function.