§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many civil servants were employed by his Department in(a) 1999, (b) 1998 and (c) 1997. [99052]
§ Mr. WillsThe number of civil servants employed by the Department for Education and Employment in 1999, 1998 and 1997 were as follows:
1 April 1997 1 April 1998 1 April 1999 Department for Education and Employment 14,679 4,061 4,251 Government Office 1n/a 673 624 Employment Service 31,550 30,796 32,675 Total 36,229 35,530 37,550 1 At 1 April 1997, the Government Office staff were included in the figures for DfEE. Note:
The figures are based on full-time equivalents and include casual staff.
The increase in staff shown by the Employment Service is a direct result of using more personal advisers and New Deal activities.
Departmental running costs for the periods in question are as follows:
Department for Education and Employment including Government Office £ million 1996–97 264.8 1997–98 237.2 1998–99 255.9 These are the net running cost figures from the Treasury's Public Expenditure Survey database, as at September 1999.The apparent "dip" in running costs in 1997–98 is caused by the use of end year flexibilities in both 1996–97 and 1998–99 to meet staff restructuring costs within the Employment Service and DfEE.
Employment Service £ million 1996–97 929.2 1997–98 1853.7 1998–99 1911.1 1 Includes impact of the "Windfall Tax". This is the one-off receipt raised on the excess profits of the privatised utilities. The tax is being used to fund the Welfare to Work programme. The Welfare to Work programme incorporates all the "New Deal" activities and is designed to extend new work opportunities to people detached from the labour market.