To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 November 2006, Official Report, column 206W, on departmental staff, how many of the total civil service staff for each period given were frontline professionals as defined in the Gershon Report. (105595)

Due to the wide variety of work carried out by the civil service, there is no single central definition of ‘front line’. The Gershon Review discussed reallocations to front-line posts in the context of workforce reforms being undertaken in the Department for Work and Pensions and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs as part of their respective efficiency programmes. It is for these departments to decide to which posts these reallocations will take place.