To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many staff of each grade (a) were employed in the Office of the Clerk of the House before the Tebbit Review of Management and Services of the House was implemented and (b) are employed in the Office of the Chief Executive; and if he will make a statement. (264616)

The Tebbit Review recommended that the scope of the activities of the Office of the Clerk of the House should be expanded to embrace planning and performance management functions, and an increased communication co-ordination role; that its staffing numbers should be increased; and that it be renamed the Office of the Chief Executive to reflect its larger role.

In December 2007, immediately before the departmental restructuring which followed the Tebbit Review, there were 12 staff (11.6 full-time equivalent) in the Office of the Clerk of the House. There are currently 21 staff (20.2 full-time equivalent) in the Office of the Chief Executive. A breakdown by band is given in the following tables. Most of the increase in staff is accounted for by the transfer to the OCE of functions from other Departments (principally internal audit, risk management and internal communications), so there has not been a corresponding increase in the total number of staff in the House Service.