To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many staff are employed in unemployment benefit offices at the present time; and how many were employed three years ago.

Staff employed in unemployment benefit offices are included with Department of Employment (DE) regional staff in our departmental staff record system. The staff in post figures for DE regional staff for 1 April 1988 and 1 April 1985 are as follows:

	Number
(i) Staff-in-post as at 1 April 1985	27,049
(ii) Staff-in-post as at 1 April 1988	28,546

Casual staff (usually taken on for a limited period to do a particular job) have not been included. And part-time staff have been counted as whole units. Figures differentiating between staff working in regional offices and those in unemployment benefit offices could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.