To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many employees in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies are in transition prior to being managed out; how long on average the transition window between notification and exit has been in (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies in each of the last five years; what estimate he has made of the salary costs of staff in transition in each such year; and what proportion of employees in transition were classed as being so for more than six months in each year. (313242)

The definition of ‘in transition’ we have used in answering this question is ‘employees who have been officially declared surplus’.

As at 4 February 2010, the number of surplus employees in core DEFRA is so low that we are withholding it on the grounds of the confidentiality of the individuals concerned. There are currently 33 surplus employees in the Rural Payments Agency and seven in animal health. None of the other agencies currently have surplus employees.

Not all the information requested is available as DEFRA has not maintained a historical central record of its surplus employees, but it is doing so now.