HC Deb 21 July 1997 vol 298 cc391-2W
Mr. Vaz

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many civil servants there are on each pay band in his Department. [8942]

Dr. David Clark

This answer covers the Cabinet Office—Office of Public Service—and its executive agencies. Staff below the senior civil service are employed by grade and are shown as such. The figures at 1 July are as follows:

Number
Office of Public Service (OPS)
SCS 39
Grades 6 and 7 79
Senior Executive Officer (SEO) and equivalent 23
Higher Executive Officer (HEO) and equivalent 77
Executive Officer (EO) and equivalent 94
Administrative Officer (AO) and equivalent 88
Administrative Assistant (AA) and equivalent 34
Executive Agencies (Total)
SCS 11
Grades 6 and 7 168
SEO and equivalent 135
HEO and equivalent 136
Number
EO and equivalent 212
AO and equivalent 251
AA and equivalent 82
Industrial staff 601

Mr. Evans

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what guidelines exist to ensure that civil servants cannot work on a party political basis. [9071]

Dr. Clark

Civil servants are under a duty, laid down in the civil service code, to conduct themselves with integrity, impartiality and honesty, and in such a way as to deserve and retain the confidence of Ministers and to be able to establish the same relationship with those whom they may be required to serve in some future Administration. Ministers are also under a duty not to use public resources for party political purposes, to uphold the political impartiality of the civil service, and not to ask civil servants to act in a way that would conflict with the civil service code. In their private lives, civil servants must comply with restrictions on their political activities as set out in the civil service code and the civil service management code.