Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Lambeth – 12 November 1985

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Lambeth on 12th November 1985.

Mr. John Fraser Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the staffing levels of Department of Health and Social Security offices in Lambeth.

Mr. Major The staffing of DHSS local offices which deal with claimants in Lambeth is as follows:-

Office | Provisional complement 1985-86 | Staff in post 1 November 1985

Kennington | 90 | 107

Kennington Park | 97 | 109

Brixton | 148 | 155

Streatham | 122 | 135

Balham | 156 | 176.5

Battersea | 140 | 158

Crystal Palace | 117 | 131.5

Peckham | 141 | 142.5

Southwark | 134 | 151.5

Note: – The figures for complement are provisional and will alter when recent changes are implemented shortly.

As will be seen each office is staffed above the complement which is determined by a complementing system – “A guide to the DHSS local complementing system” is in the Library – the purpose of which is to match numbers of staff to the work load. A fundamental requirement of the system is to establish a base complement and to update the base complement to take account of any changes. This is done by means of complement review. A complement review was begun on 14 October 1985 an when the results are known it will be possible to decide on what levels of staffing are appropriate to the work load. It is our intention to continue to match staff to work loads.