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Dept for Education and Employment

Answer

Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many lawyers are employed by his Department; and how many were employed in 1995. [117814] Mr. Wills: The Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) does not directly employ lawyers but obtains them from Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSD). The lawyers are employed by TSD and allocated to DfEE. The figures given represent the number of lawyers allocated as at 31 March for the years in question. As at 31 March 2000 24 lawyers were allocated by TSD to DfEE. DfEE came into existence following Machinery of Government changes in July 1995. The figures given for 1995 are for the number of lawyers allocated by TSD to its two predecessor Departments: the Employment Department Group (EDG) and Department for Education (DfE). As at 31 March 1995 13 lawyers were allocated to the former EDG and 10 to the former DfE, making a total of 23. Meaningful comparisons between the numbers for 1995 and 2000 will be difficult to establish as DfEE's responsibilities do not precisely equate with those of its predecessor Departments. For example, the Health and Safety Executive and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service were both part of EDG in March 1995 but transferred to the Department of Environment and the Department of Trade and Industry respectively as part of the Machinery of Government changes later that year.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

117814; 348 c343W

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Government departments Staff Solicitors Department for Education and Employment

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk