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Mr. Soames: It is the Government's view that European members of NATO should develop arrangements in the defence and security field that will ensure that they are able, collectively, to shoulder more effectively their share of the burden of promoting security and stability on the European continent, on its periphery and beyond. The Government will also want to see arrangements put in place that ensure that the burden is shared equitably among European nations. The proposals that we have made to our partners, in the context of the
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review of defence matters at the 1996 intergovernmental conference, are designed to promote these aims, among others.Temporary Contracts
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many employees in (i) his Department and (ii) all
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executive agencies supervised by his Department have been employed on temporary contracts of (a) 51 weeks or (b) less than 51 weeks duration for this year and each of the past five years, in each case specifying what percentage of the respective total workforce these employees constitute.Mr. Freeman: The available figures requested are as follows:
Full time equivalent United Kingdom based civilian staff rounded to nearest hundred
|1 April 1990 |1 April 1991 |1 April 1992 |1 April 1993 |1 April 1994 |1 January 1995
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total MOD staff |142,900 |141,500 |141,000 |131,600 |124,100 |120,300
Total casual staff |1,500 |1,300 |1,500 |2,400 |2,500 |2,800
as a percentage of total |1.05 |0.92 |1.06 |1.82 |2.01 |2.33
Total casual staff with 51 or more weeks
of service |n/a |n/a |n/a |200 |300 |400
as a percentage of total |- |- |- |0.15 |0.24 |0.33
Total casual staff with less than 51 weeks
of service |n/a |n/a |n/a |2,200 |2,200 |2,400
as a percentage of total |- |- |- |1.67 |1.77 |2.00
Total agency staff |3,100 |25,300 |27,500 |30,300 |29,400 |28,500
Total agency casual staff |0 |200 |200 |400 |500 |500
as a percentage of total agency staff |0.00 |0.79 |0.73 |1.32 |1.70 |1.75
Total agency casual staff with 51
or more weeks of service |n/a |n/a |n/a |100 |100 |100
as a percentage of total agency staff |- |- |- |0.33 |0.34 |0.35
Total agency casual staff with less than
51 weeks of service |n/a |n/a |n/a |300 |400 |400
as a percentage of total agency staff |- |- |- |0.99 |1.36 |1.40
Note:
Figures marked as n/a are not available. The information has been held in a form which allows such analysis only since April 1993.
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people he expects to employ in (i) his Department and (ii) all executive agencies for which he is responsible on temporary contracts of (a) 51 weeks or (b) less than 51 weeks duration in the next three years, in each case specifying the number of employees who had previously been employed in a similar position on the same contract.
Mr. Freeman: The fact that casual staff are recruited only where there is a genuine management need for short-term assistance--for example to cover unexpected and unforeseen increases in work load--means that it is not possible to predict the demand for casual staff. My Department cannot, therefore, forecast numbers needed one or more years in advance. Casual appointments may not exceed two years, even in exceptional cases. If the staff requirement can be identified far enough in advance, or if it is likely to be of longer duration, then other recruitment action should be taken and staff should be employed on different terms of service.
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for this year and each of the past five years, how many employees in (i) his Department and (ii) all executive agencies for which his Department is responsible who have been employed on temporary contracts of (a) 51 weeks or (b) less than 51 weeks duration are re-employed in the same or similar position at a later date.
Mr. Freeman: The figures available for UK-based staff are as follows:
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Leaving date in |1992-93 |1993-94 |1994-95 financial year ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff employed more than once as casuals with a total of less than 51 weeks service |333 |228 |265 Casual staff employed more than once as casuals with a total of 51 weeks or more service |19 |39 |50
In no case were staff employed under these terms for two years or more. Information on the positions held by staff in each appointment is not available without a manual search of all the relevant personnel records.
Data for earlier years are not available in a form which would enable this analysis to be done except at disproportionate cost.
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance has been issued in respect of the recruitment and appointment of non- permanent employees in (i) his Department and (ii) all executive agencies supervised by his Department.
Mr. Freeman: My Department and its executive agencies issue general guidance to managers and specific guidance to recruitment authorities on the circumstances in which it may be appropriate to recruit casual staff. This guidance incorporates the principles of the civil service management code, and emphasises that casual staff should be appointed only where there is management requirement
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for short-term assistance. Casual staff should not be recruited if the requirement is likely to be longer term.Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what positions in (i) his Department and (ii) all executive agencies for which his Department is responsible are filled by employees who are employed on temporary contracts of (a) 51 weeks or (b) less than 51 weeks duration.
Mr. Freeman: Information about individual posts and individual lengths of contract held by casual staff is held manually and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Details of casual staff in my Department and its agencies categorised by broad occupational groups, showing those who have served fewer than 51 weeks and those who have served 51 weeks or more are as follows:
*
Non-agency non-industrial casual staff
with less than 51 weeks
service as at March 1995
|Number
------------------------------------------
Admin and secretarial staff |1,066
Specialist staff |106
Medical staff |104
Students |131
Miscellaneous |76
*
Non-agency non-industrial casual staff
with 51 or more weeks
service as at March 1995
|Number
------------------------------------------
Admin and secretarial staff |119
Specialist staff |25
Medical staff |23
Students |10
Miscellaneous |11
*
Agency non-industrial casual staff with
less than 51 weeks service
as at March 1995
|Number
------------------------------------------
Admin and secretarial staff |141
Specialist staff |75
Medical staff |1
Students |77
Miscellaneous |24
*
Agency non-industrial casual staff with
51 weeks service or more
as at March 1995
|Number
------------------------------------------
Admin and secretarial staff |38
Specialist staff |24
Medical staff |1
Students |10
Miscellaneous |0
Industrial casual staff including agencies
|Number
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Industrial casual staff with less than 51 weeks service |1,171
Industrial casual staff with 51 weeks service or more |171
Records by agency for industrial staff are not held in the form requested and could be extracted only at disproportionate cost.
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will publish the full terms of employment as specified to employees in his Department and all executive agencies for which he is responsible who are employed on a temporary contract of (a) 51 weeks or (b) less than 51 weeks' duration;
(2) if he will publish the full terms of employment as specified to employees in his Department and all executive agencies for which he is responsible who are employed on a temporary contract of (a) 51 weeks or (b) less than 51 weeks' duration.
Mr. Freeman: No distinction is made between casual staff employed for 51 weeks or less than 51 weeks. Casual staff are recruited to fill short-term appointments of up to one year--and, exceptionally, up to two years--in accordance with the civil service management code. These centrally prescribed principles and standards are reflected in departmental or agency rules. Letters of appointment state the terms and conditions of service for such staff as set out in departmental or agency manuals, but may also be amended to reflect particular departmental needs--for example, full or part-time appointment.
Remploy
Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the cost of each contract that his Department has awarded to Remploy in each year since 1990.
Mr. Freeman: Costs of individual contracts awarded by the Ministry of Defence are commercial in Confidence. Therefore I am unable to provide the hon. Gentleman with the information he has requested. However, I can give the total annual cost of contracts awarded to Remploy for the period requested, and these are detailed below. The average number of contracts won by Remploy over the same period was 35 per year.
1990 91: 12.3 million
1991 92: 18.7 million
1992 93: 16.6 million
1993 94: 18.8 million
1994 95: 10.8 million
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