HC Deb 16 February 1999 vol 325 c722W
Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the total number of staff(a) in his Department and (b) in each of the agencies for which he is responsible and their location in (i) London, (ii) Wales, (iii) Scotland and (iv) each of the English regions. [70481]

Mr. Mudie

[holding answer 15 February 1999]: A regional distribution of DfEE staff, including staff in the Employment Service, can be found in Table 3 of "Civil Service Statistics 1998". A copy of this publication is in the Library.

Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he has taken to relocate staff in(a) his Department and (b) the agencies for which he is responsible to the regions of the United Kingdom with the highest levels of unemployment; and what plans he has further to decentralise the location of his Department and its agencies. [70467]

Mr. Mudie

[holding answer 15 February 1999]: About half of DfEE staff are located outside London in Sheffield, Darlington, Runcorn and Regional Government Offices. Employment Service staff are located throughout England, Scotland and Wales serving the needs of the unemployed. The appropriate location of DfEE work across the department sites is kept under regular review. The Employment Service is by its nature already decentralised.