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Get ready for an attack on civil service management numbers

3 February 2010

The Conservatives are collecting data on the number and cost of managers in Government departments.

The person who is collecting the information is Phillip Hammond, the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He argues that if the public sector had seen the same levels of growth in productivity as the private sector over the years 1997 to 2007 then the taxpayer would have saved some £60 billion per year.
We think that this argument is flawed.

He has been submitting standard Parliamentary Questions to all departments. The one for DfT (please see below) was answered on 29th January (Column 1111W of Hansard).

Departmental Manpower


Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many layers of management reporting from the most senior to the most junior there are in his Department and each of its agencies; how many officials are employed in each such layer; and how much was spent on salaries and associated employment costs of staff at each such layer in the latest year for which information is available. [312821]

Chris Mole: The Department for Transport has nine layers of management reporting from Permanent Secretary down to Executive Officer. The table below shows how many officials are employed in each such layer and how much was spent on salaries and associated employment costs of staff at each such layer in the latest year.

 

Management layer/grade

Staff numbers

Staff costs (£)

EO

2,863

96,038,345

HEO

1,502

58,733,248

SEO

 896

41,798,306

Grade 7

705

47,115,864

Grade 6

221

18,845,216

Deputy Director

156

15,872,659

Director

34

4,900,166

Director General(1)

 7

1,374,696

 
  (1) Permanent Secretary also included in this figure


We suspect that the information on management number and costs will be used by him to fit into his argument about productivity; no doubt he will compare management to staff ratios in the civil service to that of the private sector and say we are over managed. So prepare for some cheap shots about us.

Of course this comparison will be the same as saying that apples and pears are the same; it will be a false comparison as there are no analogous organisations in the private sector to that of Government departments.

 

 

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