§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the staff complement of the Security Services is; what the range of payment for serving security officers is; and what proportion of security officers speak Arabic. [156638]
§ Mr. BlunkettThere are currently over 2,000 staff in the Security Service. Starting salaries range from –14,500 for administrative staff to a maximum of £26,000 for some technical specialists. The top salary is of course that of the Director General (Permanent Secretary pay range £120,000-£124,999 at 31 January 2003). For operational reasons it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the number of Arab speakers available to the service.