§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people were employed in the departmental file stores in each year since 1997; how many have been transferred to the private sector; and if he will make a statement. [98857]
Site 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003(to date) Central Repository, Hayes1 60 62 62 70 65 66 69 MOD, London 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 RN personnel records, Portsmouth 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 RN personnel records, Gosport2 8 9 7 4.5 4 5 6 RM personnel records, Gosport 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Army personnel records, London 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Army personnel records, Glasgow3 36.5 74 66 67 64 35 33 RAF personnel records, Innsworth, near Gloucester 13.5 13.5 17 16 14 13.5 13 Home Guard records, Droitwich Spa 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 RAF historical records, Bentley Priory 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 MOD civilian personnel records, Llangenech 9 9 9 9 7 7 7 War Pensions records, Preston4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Armed Forces medical records, Shoeburyness 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 Total 148 187. 5 181 186. 5 174 146.5 149 1 None of the posts have transferred to the private sector yet but the MOD repository at Hayes has been considered for contractorisation in recent years as part of the public private partnership (PPP) initiative. This PPP project is a collaborative pan-government venture, led by the MOD and involving 13 other government organisations. The project has recently been granted approval to appoint a preferred bidder with a view to a contract possibly being in place during the summer of 2003. Some of the civil servants currently employed at the site may transfer to the incoming provider when the contract takes effect. Their terms and conditions will be protected in line with the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) regulations. 2 On 1 January 1998 Electronic Data Systems (EDS) took over responsibility and eight members of staff transferred across from the civil service. 3 On 1 October 2001 EDS took over responsibility and 34 members of staff transferred across from the civil service. Prior to EDS taking over responsibility, the file store also included mail operations for a large part of the MOD Glasgow organisation. It is not possible to accurately separate mail operations staff from file store staff. However, it is reasonable to assume that file store staff would have numbered around 35 in the years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. 4 MOD war pension records are held by the War Pensions Agency at Preston, however, these are stored in a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) facility that is staffed entirely by DWP civil servants. Therefore it is not included in this MOD answer.