HC Deb 01 March 1999 vol 326 cc507-8W
Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people are currently employed by the Defence Bills Agency; and what was the figure at its inception. [72839]

Mr. Spellar

This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Bills Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from I. S. Elrick to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 1 March 1999: I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence about numbers employed in the Defence Bills Agency, as this matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Executive of the Agency. There were 699 people employed in the Agency as at 31 January 1999 and these equate to 662 full-time equivalents. The comparable figures for 1 January 1996 are 680 and 655 respectively, while the full-time equivalent figure for the base line year against which the Agency's effectiveness is measured is 716. For a meaningful comparison of numbers employed currently against those employed at the Agency's inception, due allowance should be made for changed circumstances in the intervening period. The Service Level Agreement which the Agency has with the Department was amended on 27 June 1997, to effect a budget increase which was based on an additional 30 employees who were required to cope with changed business practices which were introduced to facilitate the introduction of Resource Accounting.