Departmental Employees

Mr. Swinney
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will list the number of her Department's employees by UK region, indicating the wage bill (a) in total and (b) by region in the last year for which figures are available and separately identifying the costs of London allowances and weightings. [30143]

Mrs. Beckett
[holding answer 18 February 1998]: The distribution of DTI-core staff (i.e. excluding Agencies, staff with the Government Offices and on detached duty outside the Department) on 31 March 1997 was: London: 3,851Scotland: 173Wales: 81Yorkshire and Humberside: 140North West: 106Eastern: 44East Midlands: 50North East: 109South East: 57South West: 80West: 145.----------------
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Local Pay Additions and London weighting were abolished for DTI staff in 1994, but most employees continued to receive them under reserved rights provisions. In August 1997 these payments were consolidated into base pay.The annual amounts paid in the London area (to staff below the senior civil service) were as follows:

Inner London Weighting: £1,776Intermediate London Weighting: £1,015Outer London Weighting: £736.In addition some junior staff (mostly clerical) were eligible for:London Local Pay Addition: £800
 except for about 100 individuals who retained reserved rights to different amounts.

The cost of providing a regional breakdown of pay and allowances would exceed the disproportionate cost limit. My Department no longer pays regional allowances as a distinct element of pay.