§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 12 March,Official Report, column 578, how many professional scientists and engineers of each category were employed at each grade in each of his Department's agencies in each year since 1991. [29834]
§ Mr. Boswell[holding answer 20 May 1996]Responsibility for this matter is delegated to agency chief executives and I have asked them to reply to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Johnston McNeill to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 4 June 1996:
As Chief Executive of the Meat Hygiene Service, your question to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food concerning the number of professional scientists and engineers employed at each grade in each of the Department's agencies has been passed to me for reply with regard to this Executive Agency. (29834)The Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) was launched on 1 April 1995 as an Executive Agency of MAFF. It took over from some 300 local authorities responsibility for enforcement of the hygiene and welfare at slaughter legislation in licensed meat premises in England, Scotland and Wales. Consequently the MHS employed no scientists or engineers before that date.The MHS headquarters are based in York where Chief Executive and the supporting functions of Operations, Finance, Human Resources and Information Technology are based. MHS services are managed by six regional offices. The Head of Operations as well as two of the regional Managers are qualified Veterinary Surgeons. The MHS also employs Official Veterinary Surgeons to supervise meat inspection staff working in plants. The MHS directly employs 22 Principal Official Veterinary Surgeons and 16 Official Veterinary Surgeons. In addition it contracts out work to 110 full time equivalent vets to supplement them. 5 vets are also utilised on a casual basis.Letter from John FitzGerald to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 4 June 1996:
440WIn the absence of the Chief Executive on business, I have been asked by the Minister to reply on behalf of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate to your question about the numbers of professional scientists and engineers employed at the Veterinary Medicines Directorate in each year since 1991 as this is an operational matter for which the Chief Executive is responsible. (29834)The number of full time equivalent staff employed as professional software engineers within the Veterinary Medicines Directorate in each year since 1991 is as follows:
At 1 April 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Senior Executive Officer 1 1 1 1 — — Grade 7 — — — — 1 1 The number of full time equivalent staff employed in scientific grades within the Veterinary Medicines Directorate in each year since 1991 is as follows:
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Higher Scientific Officer 1 1 — — — 1 Senior Scientific Officer 3 5 5 5 5 66 Pharmaceutical Officer I — 1 1 1 — — Research Officer 4 8 7 7.5 6.5 9.4 Senior Research Officer II 6 6 5 4 4 3 For open structure grades of grade 7 and above, the following numbers of staff hold scientific degrees or equivalent qualifications and are engaged in the assessment of applications for marketing authorisations for veterinary medicines:
At 1 April 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Grade 7 5 5 5 5 6 1 Grade 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 The Director of Licensing (Grade 5) and the Chief Executive also hold scientific qualifications. Letter from Phillip Needham to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 4 June 1996:
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary question in which you asked how many professional scientists and engineers of each category were employed at each grade in each of his Department's agencies in each year since 1991.[29834]ADAS was formed as an Executive Agency of MAFF and the Welsh Office in 1992.Most of the following posts are held by staff with scientific or engineering qualifications. We are unable to supply figures on a comparable basis before 1994.
441W
April 1994 April 1995 April 1996 ASO 145 145 148 Consultant 587 449 409 Principal Consultant — — 1 Senior consultant 296 302 294 Grade 5 15 11 11 Grade 6 32 34 32 Grade 7 90 82 68 HSO 45 35 28 Scientific officer 102 84 71 Team manager 93 88 83 Letter from Mr. T. W. A. Little to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 4 June 1996:
The Minister has asked me to reply to your question on the number of professional scientists employed in the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA).The VLA was established on 1 October 1995, from the merger of the existing Central Veterinary Laboratory with the Veterinary Investigation Service which was part of the State Veterinary Service. The following information therefore includes figures for the former Veterinary Investigation Service from October 1995.No engineers are employed at the VLA. Professional scientists, by grade, employed since 1991 are as follows:
442W
Number 1 April 1991 Grade 6 7 Grade 7 6 SROII 23 VRO 27 SSO 38 HSO 56 SO 66 ASO 110 333 1 April 1992 Grade 6 6 Grade 7 7 SRO II 19 VRO 24 SSO 32 HSO 57 SO 63 ASO 126 334 1 April 1993 Grade 6 7 Grade 7 7 SROII 21 VRO 25 SSO 34 HSO 56 SO 65 ASO 135 350 1 April 1994 Grade 6 6 Grade 7 8 SROII 20 VRO 24 SSO 33 HSO 56 SO 64 ASO 140 351 1 April 1995 Grade 6 7 Grade 7 6 SROII 15 VRO 21 SSO 32 HSO 52 SO 68 ASO 141 342
Number 1 April 1996 Grade 6 7 Grade 7 6 SROII 15 VRO 24 SSO 32 HSO 49 SO 74 ASO 144 351 Ex VIS 1 April 1996 Gd 6 Supt VIOs 2 Grade 7 1 SROII 0 VIO 45 SSO 12 HSO 14 SO 35 ASO 99 SVIO 12 220 Casuals have been excluded and part-time counted as "whole posts". Staff on temporary promotion have been counted in their substantive grades. Letter from P. I. Stanley to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 4 June 1996:
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply to your question about the number of professional scientists and engineers employed in his Department's Agencies since 1991 in respect of his Central Science Laboratory (CSL) Agency, as this is an operational matter for which I am responsible.CSL was first launched as an executive agency of MAFF on 1 April 1992. Prior to that date staffing numbers were included as part of the departmental total. CSL does not employ engineers. The number of professional scientists employed during the Agency's first year of operation, 1992–93, was not recorded by grade, however the overall average figure for the year was some 312 out of a total of 443 staff. CSL was relaunched as an enlarged agency on 1 April 1994 following its merger with the MAFF Food Science Laboratories at Norwich and Aberdeen. The number of professional scientists employed at the start of each subsequent financial year was:
Grade 1 April 1994 1 April 1995 1 April 1996 Assistant Scientific Officer 103 115 122 Scientific Officer 136 137 145 Higher Scientific Officer 101 115 113 Senior Scientific Officer 69 74 62 Principal Scientific Officer 41 38 30 Grade 6 10 11 13 Grade 5 2 2 2 Grade 3 1 1 1 These figures include those employed on a fixed-term and casual basis.
Letter from G. K. Bruce to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 4 June 1996:
443WThe Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply to your question about how many professional scientists and engineers have been employed in the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) since 1991, as this is an operational matter for which I am responsible.PSD has only been in existence as an Agency since April 1993. Since 1993 the following number of scientific staff have been employed:
Grade Number in post 1993 5 1 6 1 7 15 SSO 25 HSO 49 SO 15 ASO 1 1994 5 1 6 1 7 15 SSO 27 HSO 50 SO 20 ASO 6 1995 5 1 6 1 7 15 SSO 28 HSO 52 SO 27 ASO 6 1996 5 1 6 1 7 15 SSO 28 HSO 52 SO 29 ASO 8 All scientific staff within the Agency from Scientific Officer and above hold a bioscience degree or equivalent.
There are not qualified engineers within the Agency.