Marshall asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average number of days training per year given to professional information technology staff within his Department who are no longer trainees in the most recent years for which figures are available.

In 1985 and 1986 staff in the Home Office in the automatic data processing functional specialism received an average of about six days formal training per year. This excludes initial training.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many data processing staff are in post within his Department; and how many of them are trainees.

At 12 February 1987, there were 380 Home Office staff in post in the automatic data processing functional specialism at executive officer level and above; four were trainees undergoing initial training. These figures exclude staff in the former grades of data processor and senior data processor.