asked Her Majesty's Government:
In the case of the Department for Work and Pensions, how many (a) voluntary and (b) compulsory redundancies have been taken to date as a result of the Gershon review; what is the total departmental bill for each type of redundancy; and what is the natural wastage during the Gershon period to date for the department. [HL986]
As part of its efficiency programme the department has run a number of early release schemes. The numbers of staff leaving as a result of these schemes is shown in the table below.
The department reports financial information based on financial years, April to March. The departmental expenditure on early release schemes in the period from April 2004 to the end of March 2007 is shown alongside the number of staff. In this period, only one member of staff was issued with a compulsory redundancy notice but they were willing to leave on a compulsory basis.
Year Number of Staff Released Cost £m 2004-05 467 8.53 2005-06 2,480 116.21 2006-07 1,865 39.6
Natural wastage is reported in the Department for Work and Pensions on an annual basis, as annual turnover. The annual rate for each of the relevant 12 month periods is shown in the table below.
Year Annual Turnover % 2004-05 7.7 2005-06 7.1 2006-07 6.4