Departmental Pay

John McDonnell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many staff employed in London on work contracted out by his Department earn less than £7.45 per hour.

Gillian Merron
[holding answer 12 May 2009]: Details for every Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) directorate are not held centrally, and to give a comprehensive answer would incur disproportionate cost. However, among those FCO directorates that principally contract out work in this way, there are currently 70 staff performing work which is contracted out and who earn less that £7.45 per hour.

Those contracted on a temporary basis and sourced via an agency, rather than being contracted by the FCO, remain employees of and paid for by the agency concerned. The FCO pays an hourly rate to the agency for the provision of the service which includes the agency's management fee, mandatory employers' contributions, and a remuneration element, but the FCO does not necessarily have sight of the breakdown detailing the exact remuneration element.