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<p /> <p>Since April 2010 we have cut our overall spend on temporary staff by £35.5m.
We only use temporary staff to fill business-critical posts and essential frontline
services where they can provide a fast, flexible and efficient way to obtain necessary
skills that are not currently available in-house. We will continue to examine our
use of contractors and look for further reductions.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In
responding to each question we have utilised data provided by our contracted supplier
of temporary clerical staff and contracted supplier of temporary operational staff.
As the data provided has been supplied by two different third parties there is a slight
difference in the way that the answer to question 3 and 4 has been presented.</p><p>
</p><p>Temporary operational staff relate to Operational Support Grades (OSGs) used
within HM Prison Service. We have contracts in place to provide temporary OSGs to
fill in gaps in requirements, for building projects or to fill vacancies short term.
Temporary OSGs are a very small proportion of our staff complement.</p><p> </p><p>Uniform
operational support staff are Operational Support Grades (OSGs).These are uniformed
staff who undertake a wide range of duties in prisons, for example operating prison
gates, working in security and managing stores areas. They also escort contractors
and their vehicles.</p><p> </p><p>1) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have
been spent on clerical agency staff across -</p><p> </p><p>January 2014 - £2,983,633.14
(5 week period)</p><p>February 2014 - £2,613,023.10 (4 week period)</p><p>March 2014
- £2,591,678.87 (4 week period)</p><p>April 2014 - £2,900,742.70 (5 week period)</p><p>May
2014 - £2,398,053.57 (4 week period)</p><p>June 2014 - £658,700.28 (1 week period)</p><p>
</p><p>2) The following amounts (exclusive of VAT) have been spent on uniform operational
support staff –</p><p> </p><p>January 2014 - £1,082,247 (5 week period)</p><p>February
2014 - £1,420,329 (4 week period)</p><p>March 2014 - £1,137,834 (4 week period)</p><p>April
2014 - £1,249,908 (4 week period)</p><p>May 2014 - £2,282,468 (5 week period)</p><p>
</p><p>The spend for May 2014 also includes the backdated annual pay rise for eligible
workers from 1<sup>st</sup> April 2014.</p><p> </p><p>3) The following number of clerical
agency staff have been utilised –</p><p> </p><p>January 2014 - 1571 (Average headcount)</p><p>February
2014 - 1634 (Average headcount)</p><p>March 2014 - 1624 (Average headcount)</p><p>April
2014 - 1578 (Average headcount)</p><p>May 2014 - 1644 (Average headcount)</p><p>June
2014 - 1674 (Average headcount)</p><p> </p><p>4) The following number of uniform operational
support staff have been utilised –</p><p> </p><p>January 2014 - 697 (Peak worker number)</p><p>February
2014 - 845 (Peak worker number)</p><p>March 2014 - 867 (Peak worker number)</p><p>April
2014 - 853 (Peak worker number)</p><p>May 2014 - 855 (Peak worker number)</p><p>June
2014 - Peak worker number not available yet.</p>
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