§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list each of the functions relating to the payroll for which his Department is responsible, indicating the management systems purchased, all subcontractors 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. [10733]
§ Mr. HoonThe Lord Chancellor's Department's departmental pay unit is responsible for collating and inputting data to enable the payment of salaries and allowances to staff of the Lord Chancellor's Department, including the Court Service and the Public Trust Office agencies, and to certain full-time judicial officers and judges. The Department also processes data for the payment of fees and retainers for the clerks to the general commissioners of income tax, the Lord Chancellor's advisory committee on legal education and conduct and staff of the legal services ombudsman's office. The unit also inputs data to enable the payments of some pensions.
Payments are actually made by Chessington Computer Services Ltd. on behalf of the Lord Chancellor's Department. It also calculates, deducts and pays income tax and national insurance.
Payment of fees to part-time judicial officers and certain part-time Lord Chancellor's Department staff are processed by local offices within the Lord Chancellor's Department, with deductions for tax and national insurance. Some offices use manual systems, while others use an in-house accounting package for calculation and payment.
For the centralised payroll function, the Department uses SPIRE—standard payroll input and retrieval—a software package operated by Chessington on a bureau basis. This permits the Department's payroll staff to input data on payments and deductions direct to the payroll computer at Chessington.
Staff costs of the Department's pay unit in 1996–97 were £492,952, with £6,817 being spent in postage, training, staff travel and miscellaneous items. Chessington Computer Services Ltd. provided its services at a cost in 1996–97 of £780,867.