Departments: Early Retirement

Mr. Jenkins
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of his staff took early retirement in the last five years; at what cost; what grades of staff took early retirement; and what percentage of each grade took early retirement.

Dawn Primarolo
A breakdown of sums paid from 2004-05 to date, specific to the Department, is given in the following table.

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|       |Total (£ million)|
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|2004-05|23.1             |
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|2005-06|6.5              |
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|2006-07|4.7              |
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|2007-08|4.9              |
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The following table provides the number of staff that have taken early retirement/severance and compulsory leavers since 2004.

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|       |People number|
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|2004-05|200          |
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|2005-06|33           |
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|2006-07|39           |
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|2007-08|55           |
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Details of specific grades of staff and percentage of staff in grades could be established only at disproportionate cost.