Overtime (Hansard, 25 April 1995)

Mr. John M. Taylor

The Lord Chancellor has responsibility for four agencies: the Court Service, HM Land Registry, the Public Record Office and the Public Trust Office. As the question concerns a specific operational matter, I have asked the chief executives of HM Land Registry and the Public Record Office to reply direct. However, as the Public Trust Office and the Court Service are only recently established agencies, it has been agreed that the Department should take the lead in this answer. It has not been possible to separate information in relation to each area.

The total hours of overtime worked for the 1992–93 financial year was 336,995 hours; for 1993–94 it was 222,821 hours; and for 1994–95 it was 219,947 hours.

The total amount paid in overtime was £1,916,111, £1,376,050 and £1,352,297 respectively.

The total time in days lost through sickness in 1992 was 132,855.5 days; and in 1993 was 153,966.4 days. No figures are available for 1994–95. It would be impossible to rely upon the accuracy of calculating the monetary equivalent of the total number of days lost to sickness as there are too many variables.

Letter from Duncan Simpson to Mr. David Shaw, dated 25 April 1995: In the absence of the Chief Executive on leave I have been asked by the Lord Chancellor's Parliamentary Secretary to reply to your following three questions, notified on 5 April 1995.

Number 237 (a) The total hours of overtime worked for which payment has been made in each of the last three years is:

1992–93: 21,427 hours
1993–94: 23,412 hours
1994–95: 20,678 hours

(b) The total amounts paid in overtime in each of the last three years is:

1992–93: £120,796.97
1993–94: £138,637.12
1994–95: £116,378.17

1992: 6021
1993: 5278
1994: This figure is not yet available

It is impossible to rely on the accuracy of calculating the monetary equivalent of the total days lost to sickness as there are too many variables.

Number 239

The Public Record Office has paid the following total amounts in subsistence allowances for travel in each of the last three years:

	(a) Within the United Kingdom	(b) Outside the United Kingdom
1992–93	£63,519	£8,961
1993–94	£72,848	£7,712
1994–95	£75,192	£3,484

Number 240

The Public Record Office has not paid any removal costs and associated expenses in the last three years.

518W

Letter from John Manthorpe to Mr. David Shaw, dated 25 April 1995: I have been asked by the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, to reply to your recent question concerning, over the last three years, the total hours worked and the amount paid in overtime by HM Land Registry and the total time and its monetary equivalent lost through sickness. I can provide the following information:

	1992	1993	1994
(a) Total hours of overtime worked	46,803	16,299	18,112
(b) Total amount paid in overtime	£683,000	£220,000	£340,000
(c) Total time in days lost through sickness	117,727	114,427	¹—
¹The data on staff sickness is derived from the statistics compiled centrally by the HM Treasury and the Occupational Health Service Agency. The data for 1994 is not yet available. No figure has been supplied for the monetary equivalent of days lost as the number of variables involved in this calculation are too many to enable any reliance to be placed on its accuracy.

There is no relationship between overtime worked and sickness absence in the Land Registry. It may nevertheless be helpful to relate the data provided above to the staffing levels for the Land Registry, indicated below:

	1992	1993	1994
Average staff in post	9,648	9,141	8,717
Equivalent in days	2,450,592	2,312,673	2,196,684

I do hope that this answers the points raised with the Parliamentary Secretary but please contact me if I can be of any further assistance.