HC Deb 01 November 1995 vol 265 cc318-22W
Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many times in each month of the current year he has met personally the heads of agencies which report to him to discuss the work of those agencies. [39853]

The Deputy Prime Minister

Since assuming my new responsibilities, I have met the chief executive of the Civil Service College for discussions on one occasion.

I have yet to meet the other agency heads in person. However, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster met the chief executives of the Chessington Computer Centre and of HMSO for discussions in August, and again in September; and the chief executive of the Central Office of Information in October.

My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service has met the chief executives of all the agencies reporting to me at least once each in the course of the year.

Mr. Redmond

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list by grade the numbers of staff and their cost for(a) the financial year 1994–95 and (b) the estimated figures for the financial year 1995–96, for each executive agency for which he is responsible. [39493]

Mr. Horam

As this question concerns a purely operational matter, I have asked the chief executive of each agency concerned to write direct to the hon. Member.

Letter from Dr. E. C. McCloy to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 26 October 1995:

I am replying to your question to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in so far as it relates to my agency. The information you asked for is in the attached schedule.

The following information is available in respect of 1995–96.

1995–96 Numbers Estimated cost £ 1994–95 Numbers 1994–95 1salaries £
Grades 3–7 20 1,186,745 20
Executive Grades: 8 168,856 7
Secretarial/Clerical: 25 451,160 24
SOHAs 9 277,844 9
OHAs 24 584,344 19
OHPs 8 189,316 11
OHNs 6 57,797 10
SPTOs 2 63,278 3
HPTOs 2 41,558 2
Total 104 3,020,898 105
1 Detailed analysis for 1994–95 salaries not available.

Letter from Mike Lynn to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 27 October 1995: I have been asked to reply, in respect of HMSO, to your Question (No 301) to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster about staff numbers and costs. I should explain initially that for some years now HMSO has been maintaining its own pay and grading system, which is quite different from the standard Civil Service grading arrangements. Apart from my own post, which is a Civil Service Grade 2, about two thirds of HMSO's staff are on job evaluated paybands and the remainder is made up of mainly operational staff and others who are in single status grades. Average staff numbers in 1994 and 1995 (forecast) were as follows:

HMSO Payband 1994 1995
Payband 20 2 3
Payband 19 1 0
Payband 18 4 3
Payband 17 3 2
HMSO Payband 1994 1995
Payband 16 6 5
Payband 15 8 7
Payband 14 17 13
Payband 13 35 34
Payband 12 18 26
Payband 11 57 62
Payband 10 100 118
Payband 9 179 182
Payband 8 253 285
Payband 7 331 300
Payband 6 128 122
Payband 5 270 276
Payband 4 337 288
Payband 3 147 128
Payband 2 32 36
Payband 1 27 19
Non-banded staff 951 960
Total 2,907 2,870

Staff costs, including employer's contributions for national insurance and superannuation, were £75.1m in 1994, and are forecast to be £70.9m in 1995. HMSO's financial year runs from January to December.

Letter from Elizabeth Chennells to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 26 October 1995:

Your written question to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster regarding the staff numbers and costs for Executive Agency staff refers. Agency Chief Executives have been asked to reply to you directly. I am replying on behalf of Dr Hickey, Chief Executive of the Civil Service College, who is currently away from the office.The information that you require is attached. Because of the method the College uses to maintain its records for staff costs, a breakdown of costs by grade is not readily available. However I have included the total staff costs for the College for 1994–95 and our expected costs for 1995–96.

Civil Service College
Grade 1994–95 1995–96
Number Cost £000 Number Cost £000
Grade 3 1 1
Grade 5 3 4
Grade 6 19 18
Grade 7 77 75
SEO 11 13
Senior Librarian 1 1
HEO 16 17
EO 45 43
Assistant Librarian 2 2
Senior Personal Secretary 1 1
AO 76 73
AA 3 4
SGB1 3 3
SGB2 10 14
Personal Secretary 10 10
Typist 2 1
Total 280 6,878 280 7,324

Letter from R. N. Edwards to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 26 October 1995:

STAFF NUMBERS AND COSTS AT THE CHESSINGTON COMPUTER CENTRE

I refer to your enquiry to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster regarding staff numbers and their cost for the financial years 1994–95 and 1995–96.

As the detail of staff numbers and cost by grade is not readily available and a disproportionate cost would be involved in collecting the data the response is limited to providing aggregate numbers and costs for the two financial years. The figures are as follows:-

Year Average No. of (full-time equivalent) staff in post Annual cost £
1994–95 395.5 8,484,447
1995–96 385 8,519,620

Letter from Kim Bright to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 26 October 1995:

"To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list by grade the numbers of staff and their cost for (a) financial year 1994/95 and (b) the estimated figures for the year 1995/96 for each executive agency for which he is responsible."

(a.) As at 31 March 1995
Staff
Grade 3 1
Grade 5 1
Grade 6 3
Grade 7 13.5
Senior Psychologist 1
Higher Psychologist 4
SEO 6
HEO 7
EO 24
AO 38
AA 14
SPS 1
PS 1.5
Typist 6
SM3 1
SGI 3
SGII 8.5
Total 133.5

Cost £2.328 million.

(b) Approximately 135 staff

Cost £2,833 million.

Letter from Mike Devereau to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 31 October 1995:

STAFF NUMBERS AND COSTS

You asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for information on the number and cost of staff, by grade, for the last and current financial years.

As this is an operational matter I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Central Office of Information.

At 31 March 1995 there were 486.39 staff in post and at 30 September 19995 there were 452.42. A breakdown by grade is given in the attached table. Salary costs quoted include superannuation and National Insurance costs. Staff numbers in each grade include part-time staff.

I hope that this information meets your needs.

1995–96 Grade Total salary cost £ Number in Grade Average staff cost £
Chief Executive 71,715 1.00 71,715
Grade 5 248,785 4.00 62,196
Grade 6 671,484 13.00 51,653
Grade 7 1,233,043 30.65 40,230
Supervisory Engineer (SIO) 0 0.00 0
Senior Executive Officer 397,546 12.00 33,129
Senior Information Officer 3,271,929 103.81 31,518
Senior Engineer (IO) 0 0.00 0
Engineer (IO) 0 0.00 0
Higher Executive Officer 515,014 19.00 27,106
Information Officer 2,418,583 95.30 25,379
Librarian 26,539 1.00 26,539
Assistant Information Officer 209,158 11.00 19,014
Executive Officer 828,970 41.00 20,219
Personal Secretary 202,019 11.00 18,365
Vaultkeeper 0 0.00 0
Assistant Librarian 22,723 1.00 22,723
Support Manager 3 35,594 2.00 17,797
Typist 118,421 7.00 16,917
Administrative Officer 1,209,726 72.66 16,649
Support Grade; Band 1 90,270 6.00 15,045
Support Grade: Band 2 174,979 14.00 12,498
Administrative Assistant 65,347 7.00 9,335
Total 11,811,845 452.42
1994–95 Grade Total salary cost £ Number in Grade Average staff cost £
Chief Executive 71,984 1.00 71,984
Grade 5 247,713 4.00 61,928
Grade 6 677,885 13.00 52,145
Grade 7 1,203,404 29.65 40,587
Supervisory Engineer (SIO) 38,569 1.00 38,569
Senior Executive Officer 364,874 12.50 29,190
Senior Information Officer 3,443,567 112.82 30,523
Senior Engineer (IO) 54,057 2.00 27,028
Engineer (IO) 145,055 6.00 24,176
Higher Executive Officer 515,732 20.00 25,787
Information Officer 2,370,873 99.92 23,728
Librarian 25,957 1.00 25,957
Assistant Information Officer 245,240 12.00 20,437
Executive Officer 886,623 44.00 20,151
Personal Secretary 220,063 13.00 16,928
Vaultkeeper 18,397 1.00 18,397
Assistant Librarian 22,013 1.00 22,013
Support Manager 3 34,478 2.00 17,239
Typist 128,821 8.00 16,103
Administrative Officer 1,185,717 75.00 15,810
Support Grade; Band 1 87,047 6.00 14,508
Support Grade: Band 2 193,923 14.50 13,374
Administrative Assistant 70,734 7.00 10,105
Total 12,252,726 486.39