I propose to take Questions Nos. 821 and 822 together.
My Department gathers quarterly data on staff numbers in local authorities. The data gathered does not provide detail in respect of the number of staff that have retired from the outdoor road staff and housing maintenance departments. Neither does it provide detail on the number of staff taken on in the outdoor road and housing maintenance sections in each of the years 2014 to 2016 and to date in 2017, by category and sourcing of staff, that is, transferred staff, direct employment, gateway scheme, private contractors, agency workers. Accordingly, the information requested is not available in my Department.
The following table shows the total number of outdoor workers from Dec 2014 to the most recent figures available i.e. March 2017.
|
December 2014 (WTE)
|
December 2015 - (WTE)
|
December 2016 - (WTE)
|
March 2017 - (WTE)
|
Total Number of outdoor workers
|
10,857.31
|
10,557.59
|
10,415.26
|
10,379.37
|
Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authorities for which he or she is responsible. In this regard, it is a matter for each individual Chief Executive to recruit and assign staff to specific functional areas.