§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 30 October,Official Report, columns 7–10—, on next steps agencies what estimates he has made of the proportion of civil servants working in next steps agencies in (a) April 1996 and (b) April 1997.
The Deputy Prime MinisterThe next steps programme is on course towards the Government's expectation that it will cover about three quarters of the civil service as a whole. Projecting proportionate coverage is uncertain because decisions on whether to establish candidate functions as agencies and the exact timing of the launch have yet to be made and will depend on a variety of considerations—and because the overall numbers of civil servants continue to fall.
860WHowever, taking our current indications of potential launches in April 1996 and adding their current staffing into the proportions I gave for 1 April 1995 in my report of 30 October would produce the following figures:
1995 including possible April 1996 launches Per cent. Indicative projection of Home civil servants working on ext Steps lines on 1 April 70 Indicative projection of civil servants in Northern Ireland working on Next Steps lines on 1 April 72 Thereafter and on the same basis, I estimate that these proportions would rise to 75 per cent. and 78 per cent. respectively on the assumption that all functions currently under consideration were launched as agencies, mostly by April 1997.