§ Mr. KaufmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will set out for each of the next steps agencies in his Department, whether they have acquired their own headquarters buildings and, if so, at what purchase cost or annual rental; how many support staff they have required which were not required when their operations were within his Department; how many of them published periodical journals and at what annual cost; how many have fleets of executive cars or single executive cars and at what annual cost; how many have specially designed logos and at what cost; how many have corporate clothing and at what cost; and what is the cost of specially designed and printed corporate stationery.
§ Mr. David HuntI am responsible for six agencies: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, Central Office of Information, Chessington Computer Centre (Chessington), Civil Service College, Occupational Health Service and Recruitment and Assessment Services. The details requested concern mostly operational matters and I have asked the chief executives to reply directly.
HMSO and COI are individual departments as well as being agencies. They already had their own headquarters and were self-contained for support staff.
The other agencies are parts of the Cabinet Office, Office of Public Service and Science. All had their own headquarters buildings and were self contained for support services or very nearly so. Four additional support posts were created when they were launched as agencies. Since that time there have been further changes in the agencies to reflect levels of business and efficiency and productivity gains.
Within the Cabinet Office, excluding the agencies, there are now 25 fewer support staff than immediately prior to the launch of the first OPSS agency in 1989.
Letter from E. C. McCloy to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 26 January 1995:
296WThe Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service and Science (Mr. Robert Hughes) has asked me to provide, for my Agency, the information requested in your Parliamentary Question to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster about certain costs which might have been incurred by his Executive Agencies.Since its inception in 1986, the structure and organisation of the Civil Service Occupational Health Service (OHS) has undergone little change. Between 1986 and 1990, when OHS achieved Agency status, it functioned as a free-standing unit within the Cabinet Office (Office of the Minister for the Civil Service). In 1989, the Headquarters was transferred from London to our present offices in Edinburgh as part of the government's programme of dispersal of Civil Service jobs. No additional costs were incurred resulting from the change.Since 1990 the only addition to our support staff numbers has been the equivalent of one Executive Officer post which was added to our strength to take over accommodation and general support duties which had previously been undertaken by the Cabinet Office.There are two or three editions, in each year, of a journal called "Health at Work" which is aimed at promoting health and safety within the Civil Service. The cost of each edition is approximately £9,000. "Health at Work" replaced previous journals which had been published before we attained Agency status.Our logo was designed in 1987 before we became an Agency and our headed stationery also dates from that time.We have no executive cars or corporate clothing.Letter from Michael D. Geddes to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995:
There are two areas of the question that apply to Recruitment and Assessment Services (RAS).In 1991 RAS paid a one-off sum of £20,000 to produce a corporate image for the Agency. This included choosing a name, logo design and preparation of a design manual with specifications for future use, ie a house style.To supplement the use of the logo, RAS uses corporate stationery for a regular newsletter (Radius), for marketing and for tender documentation. This has cost £11,000 over the period late 1993 to date.Letter from R. N. Edwards to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995:
Chessington Computer Centre is an Agency of the Office of Public Service and Science. I have been asked to respond to you directly on the Parliamentary Question tabled on the costs of Agency. The costs were as follows:-Headquarter Buildings—Nil, Chessington is wholly located at its single site in Surrey.Support Staff—No additional support staff were added to the Chessington complement on becoming an Agency.Periodical Journals—Chessington produces quarterly Newsletters to its customers. These were produced at a cost of £6261 in 1993/94, Chessington's first year as an Agency.Executive Cars—Nil.Logos—Chessington paid an amount of £5150 for professional consultancy and artwork in adopting a new logo as it became an Agency.Corporate Clothing—Nil.Cost of Specially designed Stationery—£7,500 in 1994/5. This included binders folders; headed stationery; compliment slips etcLetter from Stephen Hickey to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 25 January 1995:
I have been asked to reply to your question about the expenditure incurred by the Civil Service College since it has been a Next Steps agency. I will cover the points in the order that you raised them:Headquarter building
The College's main centre has been at Sunningdale Park since it was formed in 1971. No additional office accommodation has been created at Sunningdale because of the College becoming an agency. The current rent paid by the College totals £1.2 million per annum covering all the teaching, residential and office accommodation.Support staff
Three additional support staff were employed as a result of the College taking on new roles when it became an agency. Other increases in staffing since 1989 have been a result of the College's continuing success at expanding its business.Periodic journals
We do not publish any periodic journals.Executive cars
We do not have any executive cars.Logos
The College has commissioned no specially designed logos since it became an agency.Corporate clothing
The College issues no corporate clothing.Corporate stationery
297WThe College expects to spend £75,000 this financial year on corporate stationery. This includes headed letter paper, envelopes, ring binders, document wallets and financial stationery. All of these would have been required as part of the College's normal business, whether or not, it was an agency.Letter from Paul Freeman to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995:
I have been asked by The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to reply to your question concerning expenditure by Next Steps Agencies.As well as being an Agency reporting to the Chancellor, HMSO is also a department in its own right and has been a Trading Fund since 1980. Assumption of Agency status in 1988 did not therefore represent a dramatic change.HQ accommodation. HMSO has 2 Headquarters buildings in Norwich. A 40-year lease was obtained on Sovereign House in 1968 with an annual rental of £97,000. St Crispins, which was previously leased, was purchased for £6 million in 1986. This pre-dates Agency status.Support staff. Support staff have reduced from 600 to 450 since HMSO became an Agency in 1988.Periodicals. The only 'periodical' produced by HMSO is an in-house magazine for staff communications. This pre-dates Agency status, and currently costs around £24,000 per annum.Cars. HMSO has one vehicle which serves both as an executive car and as a delivery vehicle for sensitive documents. It costs £10,000 per annum, and pre-dates Agency status.Logo. HMSO has a simple logo which is designed and developed by our own design team many years ago. The cost, which was modest, is not readily available.Corporate clothing. The only clothing purchased by HMSO is protective clothing for messengers and some reprographic staff. £5,000 was spent in 1994.Stationery. Headed stationery has always been used by HMSO but the extraction of this detail from the overall printing and stationery budget is not possible.Letter from Mike Devereau to Mr. Gerald Kaufman, dated 24 January 1995:
You asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for various figures and costs associated with Next Steps agencies.As these relate to operational matters I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Central Office of Information.COI was established as an Executive Agency on 5 April 1990.
Government funding of higher education R and D Annual percentage growth in real GDP United Kingdom United States of America France United Kingdom United States of America France Percentage of GDP Percentage change year on year 1981 0.26 0.31 0.31 1.7 -2.2 2.3 1982 0.26 0.31 0.32 3.8 3.6 0.7 1983 0.26 0.31 0.32 2.5 6.7 1.5 1984 0.26 0.31 0.33 3.5 3.1 1.8 1985 0.27 0.32 0.33 4.4 2.8 2.4 1986 0.27 0.34 0.32 4.7 3.1 2.2 1987 0.27 0.36 0.32 5.0 4.0 4.2 1988 0.26 0.36 0.32 2.2 2.7 3.8 1989 0.25 0.37 0.32 0.4 0.8 2.4 1990 0.25 0.37 0.33 -2.3 -1.1 0.7 1991 0.25 0.38 0.34 -0.4 2.5 1.4 1992 0.25 0.39 0.35 2.0 2.8 -0.8 Sources: OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators.
(Real GDP calculated using OECD implicit GDP price indices, 1985=100).