3. Letter to the Clerk of the Committee from Michael
Cameron, PS to Paul Goggins MP, Minister of State for Northern
Ireland
Departmental Temporary Employment
Your letter of 25 November 2008 asked for information
in relation to the increase in sums paid to recruitment agencies
and reasons for the recruitment of temporary staff. This followed
a response by the Department to Parliamentary Question (PQ) number
229077 on the use of temporary staff in the Department over the
last 5 years.
Temporary staff are used by the Northern Ireland
Office for two main reasons:
- To fill vacant posts that have
a pressing workload but cannot be immediately filled by appropriately
skilled permanent staff; or
- To cover temporary workload pressures.
The use of, and continuing need for, temporary staff
is closely monitored within each business area.
The increase noted in the PQ of approximately £80k
over the last 5 years (from £99.8k to £179.5k) is equivalent
to four full time administrative staff, taking into account employer
pension and National Insurance costs. This is in the context of
over 2,000 permanent staff in the Northern Ireland Office.
While there is an element of inflation in the increase,
the biggest single reason for the rise in costs, around £60k,
has been the use of temporary staff in the Crown Solicitors Office
(CSO) to cover temporary workload pressures. This is due to the
demand led nature of work in the CSO.
You also asked for information on the other costs
of employing temporary staff. In addition to direct wages, other
costs relate to fees charged by employment agencies. These are
built into the hourly rate charged for each employee and are not
separately identifiable.
Please contact me if you have any further questions.
17 December 2008
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