§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the staff of the Treasury were on gardening leave on 1 October and at each previous quarter day from 1 October 1992; and what is(a) the maximum permissible gardening leave that the Treasury allows and (b) the average actually taken. [39333]
§ Mrs. Angela KnightDetails of the number of Treasury staff on gardening leave—those not working, but excluding those on statutory paid leave, maternity leave or long-term sick leave—by quarter from 1 July 1993 to 1 October 1995 is given in the table. The information for 1 October 1992, 1 January and 1 April 1993 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
HM Treasury staff on "gardening leave" by quarter Headcount 1993 1994 1995 1 January — 9 8 1 April — 13 21 1 July 6 10 19 1 October 6 9 8 The marked increase on 1 April 1995 was a result of the Treasury further expenditure review. Following the Treasury's voluntary redundancy programme, the numbers have returned to the usual levels of less than 1 per cent.
The Treasury does not set limits for the amount of time that staff are on gardening leave but the aim is to keep the amount to a minimum. To that end, we have set in place procedures to allocate project work to staff who are temporarily between postings.