asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many persons classified by statute as inspectors have been employed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in each year since 2001; and how many are employed now. [HL5732]
The number of inspectors employed by Defra, and in inspectorates currently within the core department, is shown in the table below.
Year Drinking Water Inspectors Plant Health and Seeds Inspectors Total 2001 18 N/A 2002 20 N/A 2003 19 93 112 2004 23 92 115 2005 21 95 116 2006 24 110 134 2007 24 110 134 2008 25 86 111
Information on the number of inspectors working in Defra's executive agencies over this period could be provided only by incurring disproportionate cost.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many staff of each grade left the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2007–08 under the voluntary early retirement and severance schemes; whether payments under those schemes were tax-free; if not, what the upper limit for tax relief was; what the total cost of the schemes was in 2007; how many staff have been recruited since April 2008 in each grade; and whether any such recruits are persons who took voluntary retirement or severance pay in the previous 12 months. [HL5950]
For core Defra (Defra excluding its agencies) there were two schemes run in 2007-08 which were split up into a number of tranches. Within these schemes, the first £30,000 payment was tax free and after that normal tax rates applied. In total 627 people left under voluntary early retirement (VER)/voluntary early severance (VES), at an estimated total cost of £51 million. This was split as follows:
Number of Leavers Total Cost VER 250 £28 million VES 377 £23 million
This was split between grades as follows:
Grade Number AA 37 AO 127 EO 145 HEO 132 SEO 57 Grade 7 62 Grade 6 16 CONTR 3 TYPIST 2 PS 10 Band C 1 Band D 1 SGB 2 12 SO 1 SPS 3 SSO 1 HSO 1 SGB1 4 FCPB 2 1 PHSI 1 1 Grand Total 627
In addition, there were 29 people from Defra agencies who left as part of the closure of the Wildlife Unit (25 people on VES and 4 people on VER) at a total cost of £1.5 million.
Since the beginning of April 2008, 163 people have been employed within Defra. This is broken down as follows:
AA 6 AO 32 EO 37 HEO 47 SEO 13 G7 21 G6 3 SCS 4
None of the people who left on either voluntary early retirement or severance in 2007-08 has been re-employed.