§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the annual budget for his departmental deregulation unit; how many staff it employs; and of these how many(a) are career civil servants and of what grades (b) have been seconded from business, and (c) have experience of the private sector, [30065]
§ Mr. WattsThis Department's deregulation unit has a staff running cost budget of around £100,000 per year and a complement of six staff.
Five are civil servants with little direct experience of the private sector; they include a grade 5, a grade 7, an HEO and two clerical staff—the other is a private sector consultant, who is retained to advise on deregulation issues. The civil servants in the DDU have other responsibilities in addition to the Government's deregulation initiative and this has been taken into account in the budget figure.