Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 12 Mar 1996

Vol. 462 No. 8

Written Answers. - Ministerial and Departmental Staff Numbers.

Ivor Callely

Ceist:

28 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Finance the approved position for employment sanctioned in Government Departments and Ministers' offices since December 1994; the numbers in each Department; the costs involved; the status and responsibilities of each position; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3207/96]

Minister for Finance (Mr. Quinn)

A reply along the lines sought by the Deputy would take a disproportionate amount of time and effort to collate. For instance, a table setting out numbers in grade by Department would run to a huge volume. Accordingly, I propose to respond in a way that I hope will be both helpful and informative and will give the Deputy an overview of staffing developments in the Civil Service.

Firstly, the actual Civil Service staffing levels over the period mentioned by the Deputy are as follows:

	1/1/1995	1/1/1996
Non-industrial civil servants	28,370	29,491
Industrial civil servants	1,782	1,760
Total	30,152	31,251

A breakdown of the non-industrial numbers by Department is given in the following Table 1 and a breakdown by main general service grades is given in Table 2 herewith.

I should mention that Departments-Offices participating in the administrative budget initiative had delegated sanction to appoint staff up to and including higher executive officer level and equivalent provided sufficient funds were available in their administrative budgets to pay for such staff. Accordingly, they would not have required my Department's individual sanction for most of the new positions created. Arising out of measures taken by the Government to stabilise numbers in the Civil Service, the delegated authority to create posts up to HEO level under administrative budget agreements has now been superseded.

As regards the positions sanctioned in Minister's offices, guidelines on the employment of staff for Ministers' and Ministers' of State private offices and constituency offices and in relation to special advisers, personal assistants, personal secretaries and programme managers have been brought to the attention of all Ministers and Ministers of State. Those guidelines provide that the total number of staff in a Minister's private office may not exceed ten and the number in a constituency office may not exceed six. A Minister of State may have a private office staff of seven, which may be increased to nine if he-she is assigned to more than one Department, and a staff of five in the constituency office. Additionally, Ministers may appoint one partnership programme manager and all Ministers and Ministers of State may have one personal secretary, one personal assistant and one personal or special adviser.

While the guidelines provide a ceiling on the number and categories of staff which office holders may employ, it is for each of them to decide whether they require the full permitted complement of such staff. Questions on the detailed arrangements and costings are appropriate to individual Ministers.

The staff numbers and costs for my private office and the Ministers of State attached to my Department are set out below.

	Number	Annual Cost
		£
Minister
Civil Servants	15	189,779
Contract Staff**	4	130,203
Minister of State Doyle
Civil Servants	5	82,276
Contract Staff***	5*	94,872
Minister of State Coveney (Department of Finance)
Civil Servants	2	37,653
Contract Staff****	1	34,111
Minister of State Conveney (Office of Public Works)
Civil Servants	6	90,050
Contract Staff****	3*	41,440

*Includes two civilian drivers.

**Includes programme manager, special adviser, personal assistant and personal secretary.

***Includes special adviser, personal secretary and personal assistant.

****Includes special adviser and personal secretary.

Table 1

Numbers Serving by Department

Department/Office	1 January 95	1 January 96
Agriculture, Food and Forestry	3841.5	4048
Arts, Culture and Gaeltacht	304.5	328
Attorney General	37.5	53
Central Statistics Office	554	615
Chief State Solicitor	134.5	153
Civil Service Commission	96.5	103.5
Comptroller and Auditor General	115	130
Defence	439.5	434
Director of Public Prosecutions	26	27
Education	794.5	919
Enterprise and Employment HQ	796.5	799
Enterprise and Employment LRC	32	32
Enterprise and Employment Sub-Total	828.5	831
Environment	812	813
Equality and Law Reform HQ	91.5	80
Finance	512.5	521.5
Foreign Affairs	862	978.5
Health	394	448.5
Justice Charities Office	6	8
Justice Courts	759.5	790.5
Justice Data Protection Commissioner	6	6
Justice Garda Civilians	826	833
Justice Garda Complaints Board	9	16.5
Justice Land Registry	511.5	528
Justice Office H.Q.	467	467
Justice Prisons	2497	2494
Justice Probation and Welfare Service	231	238
Justice Group Sub-Total	5313	5381
Marine	325.5	360.5
National Gallery	16	19
Office of Public Works	812.5	812
Oireachtas	241.5	249
Ombudsman	30	36
Ordnance Survey	287	281
President's Establishment	14	13
Revenue Commissioners	6038	6211.5
Social Welfare	4296	4414.5
State Laboratory	75	74
Tánaiste	21	23
Taoiseach	139.5	178.5
Tourism and Trade	97	117
Transport, Energy and Communications	667.5	685
Valuation Office	152.5	153
Total	28370	29491

Table 2

Main General Service Grades

Grade	1 January 95	1 January 96
	Nos. Serving	Nos. Serving
Secretary	18.0	18.0
Deputy Secretary	1.0	1.0
Assistant Secretary	91.0	90.0
Principal	329.0	341.0
Assistant Principal	926.5	955.5
Administrative Officer	74.0	98.5
Higher Executive Officer	1676.5	1766.0
Executive Officer	2226.0	2269.5
Staff Officer	966.0	1056.5
Clerical Officer	4114.0	4364.0
Clerical Assistant	4951.5	5085.0
Paperkeeper	183.0	185.0
Services Officer	526.0	534.0
Services Attendant	124.0	87.5
Total	16206.5	16851.5