§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how staff numbers in his Department have varied between 1 May 1997 and 31 March 1998. [48871]
§ Mr. Tony LloydOn 1 April 1997 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office employed 5,595 UK-based staff (including 56 casuals) counted as full-time equivalents. Its agency, Wilton Park, employed 35 staff (no casuals) on the same basis. At 1 April 1998 the equivalent figures were 5,493 (including 81 casuals) and 38 (including 1 casual) respectively. So the number of staff employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office decreased by 102 between 1 April 1997 and 1 April 1998 and the number of staff employed by the Wilton Park agency increased by 3 during the same period.