Chris Bryant – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, how many contracted canteen and hospitality staff worked on the parliamentary estate in each year since 2009.
Tom Brake
The number of Contracted (Agency) staff is difficult to calculate due to the number of different agencies used and the often short term, varied work they are engaged to do. The number of contracted (agency) staff compared to the number of permanent staff is relatively low and accounts for less than 10% of the workforce costs with most contracted (agency) staff covering ad hoc operational requirements.
The percentage of workforce costs that represent agency staff for the years 2009 to 2015 were as follows:
|
2009/10 |
2.84% of staff costs |
|
2010/11 |
2.17% of staff costs |
|
2011/12 |
4.11% of staff costs |
|
2012/13 |
4.34% of staff costs |
|
2013/14 |
6.00 % of staff costs |
|
2014/15 |
8.11% of staff costs |
Along with growing guaranteed hours staff, contracted (Agency) staff have helped with the flexibility of the business needs since the directorate restructured to a smaller core team in 2011 and 2013 and in response to a growing banqueting and events business through income generation initiatives. As a result total staff costs have been much better controlled by being able to have a flexible resource which resources up to peaks in demand rather than having too many staff during quieter periods.
