To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff are to be removed from the establishment of divisions forming the Fire and Resilience Directorate of her Department in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08; and what percentage of total employees per division these figures represent. (105903)

The Fire and Resilience Directorate is integrating and rationalising the work of two former directorates (the Civil Resilience Directorate and the Fire and Rescue Service Directorate). This is part of an ongoing process within the Department and is not exclusive to the Fire and Resilience Directorate. The directorate is seeking to reduce its administrative budget (pay and non-pay costs) in this financial year. It has not yet been possible to identify the precise number of posts as this is dependent on more detailed consideration of future policy and operational needs, and we estimate that this will affect approximately 24 posts. The following table sets out the percentage of staff affected per division.

For next year, work is being progressed to review priorities and the resourcing required.