nearly a 25% cut
UK Border Agency: Liverpool
Mrs Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the likely effects of the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review on the number of staff employed by the UK Border Agency in Liverpool; and if she will make a statement. [28244]
Damian Green [holding answer 2 December 2010]: The spending review settlement for the UK Border Agency will mean that it needs to reduce staff numbers by about 5,200 by the end of the spending review period. This will reduce the work force to around 18,000 by 2015. It is not possible to say what the likely effects of the reductions in staff number in Liverpool are at this stage. The UK Border Agency is still working through detailed planning but will let staff and the public know as soon as the plans are clear. However, the UK Border Agency is committed to discussing work force planning in detail with the unions and our staff before confirming any changes.
On 4 November, the Home Office implemented a new restructuring, redeployment and redundancy policy, based on ACAS best practise, which provides a framework within which to manage down headcount. Compulsory redundancy continues to be a last resort and the UK Border Agency have committed to using a range of redundancy avoidance measures including voluntary early release, a recruitment freeze on external appointments and redeployment to ensure that this is the case.
