HC Deb 21 January 1998 vol 304 cc561-2W
Mr. Hawkins

To ask the Prime Minister how many(a) special advisers, (b) task force members and (c) review body members his Department employs; what is the total salary and benefits of (a) to (c); and what was the equivalent cost prior to 1 May. [19310]

The Prime Minister

My office employs 17 full-time and two part-time Special Advisers. It does not employ any Task Force or Review body members on a salaried basis, the same position as before 1 May.

Mrs. Liddell

I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Jim Cousins, dated 21 January 1998: I have been asked to reply, as the Director of the Office for National Statistics, to your recent question on workers earning less than the lower earnings limit for National Insurance contributions. Estimates from the Labour Force Survey are shown in the attached table. The average of the last four quarters have been used in order to provide a larger sample and therefore more reliable estimates than could be obtained from only one quarter. Earnings estimates for Northern Ireland are not available from the Labour Force Survey.

A direct comparison of costs is not sensible, as the roles that my Special Advisers undertake are different from those of the previous Administration. For example I do not employ an Efficiency Adviser in No. 10, nor is there a Head of the Policy Unit, and some Special Advisers in the Policy Unit deal with areas which in the past have been covered by civil servants. Similarly the figures include a Special Adviser in the Strategic Communications Unit which has been funded by savings across Government Departments.

The projected cost of the No. 10 Special Adviser paybill for 1997–98 is £849,894. The figure includes Special Advisers in the Strategic Communications Unit who like all members of the Unit are funded by contributions from all Departments. The cost of the 7–8 Special Advisers in 1996–97 was £434,249.