§ Joyce QuinTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many DEFRA staff are employed in each Government Regional Office. [83353]
§ Alun MichaelIt is difficult to provide figures in precisely the form requested, since some staff in Government Offices will be undertaking DEFRA related work while other DEFRA staff may have applied for and been appointed to posts not related to DEFRA activities but would be identified as having DEFRA as their "parent Department". That explains the number of staff in the Government Office for London and the high number in the East of England. The only Government Office with any significant agricultural structural funds work is the Government Office for the South West where they administer the objective 1 agriculture programme in Cornwall. This explains the high number of staff in the South West.
Against this background the number of staff in Government Offices whose parent Department is identified as DEFRA at October 2002 was 93. The number in each Office was:
Number East of England 24 East Midlands 8 London 9 North East 6 North West 6 South East 8 South West 19 West Midlands 5 Yorkshire and Humberside 8
2001–01 2001–02 2002–03 Government office region Number of applications received Total value of grants issued (£) Number of applications received Total value of grants issued (£) Number of applications received Total value of grants issued (£) South West — — — — — — South East — — — — 2 — East of England 5 — 19 61,220 8 14,280 East Midlands 15 — 3 104,160 1 8,480 West Midlands 3 — 2 7,170 2 3,183 Yorkshire and the Humber 13 — 4 61,810 1 35,740 North East — — 5 — — 6,000 North West 1 — — — — — Total 37 — 33 234,360 14 67,683 Note:
In some cases, grants are paid in the year following receipt of the application.