§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list each of the functions relating to the payroll for which his Department is responsible, indicating the management systems purchased, all sub-contractors involved in the work, co-operative arrangements with other Departments and the costs of the systems and processes in the last year for which figures are available. [10735]
§ Mr. DewarMy Department retains control of the majority of the functions relating to payroll for staff in the Scottish Office and related agencies. The departmental pay section is responsible for arrangements for collating and inputting of all data for staff salaries by means of the SPIRE—standard payroll input and retrieval—management system. The departmental pay section also directly manages the distribution of payslips and control prints, payover of moneys to third parties in respect of tax, national insurance and voluntary deductions and all accounting and reconciliation work. Processing, calculation and payment of salaries via the banks automatic clearing system is undertaken for the Department by Chessington Computer Services Ltd.
In 1996–97 the costs for these arrangements were £553,473 in respect of services provided by Chessington Computer Services Ltd. and £583,206 in respect of costs for staff employed in the departmental pay section.