Civil service numbers rise

Thursday, 21 October 2004 12:00 AM

The latest figures on civil service employment show a rise in permanent and casual staff during 2003-04.

Today's figures, from the Cabinet Office, reveal the picture at April 2004 compared to six months earlier, and show a 8920 or 1.7 per cent rise in full time civil servants.

Civil service numbers have become a hot political issue over the summer, with all three main parties promising civil service cuts.

In his July spending review this year, the Chancellor Gordon Brown outlined plans to cut 104,000 civil servant jobs and the Conservatives have spent the summer outlining plans to cut "fat government".

On a headcount basis, over the six month period to April 2004, numbers of full-time permanent staff increased 5500 and the number of part-time staff increased by 4850, bringing total staff numbers to 554,110.

Explanations given by the Cabinet Office for the rise in civil service numbers include an increase in Jobcentre Plus, a rise in the Prison Service to reflect and increase in prison numbers, additional staffing in the Inland Revenue to handle tax credit renewals and a rise in Home Office staff "as a result of operation needs" in the immigration and nationality departments.

In terms of diversity, the figures show that the proportion of ethnic minority individuals employed remained roughly constant at 8.1 to 8.3 per cent, although at senior service level this drops to 3.3 per cent, which is up from 1.6 per cent in April 1998.

Women make up 52 per cent of the lower grades, but this falls to 27.4 per cent at the senior levels, though again up from the 17.8 per cent in April 1998.

Commenting on the diversity figures, Cabinet Office Minister Ruth Kelly, said: "'The Government is committed to achieving a Civil Service that reflects the population we serve, including at senior levels, and recognises the need for further progress and sustained effort to accomplish this aspiration. I am pleased that the Civil Service continues to make progress in addressing the under-representation of women and minority ethnic staff at senior levels of the Civil Service and hope that we can build on the increase in disabled staff."

The Civil Service is aiming to double the number of staff from under represented groups in the Senior Civil Service by 2005. By 2008, it aims for women to make up 37 per cent of the senior civil service, four per cent from ethnic minority backgrounds and 3.2 per cent with disabilities.

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