Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Financial Management and Policy Review of the
Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Annex 5:
Staffing of the Secretariat

Current staff provision
Post Grade Number of staff
Secretary to the Commission Senior Civil Service 1
Assistant Secretaries Grade 7 2
Scientific Staff Senior Scientific Officer 2
Scientific Staff Higher Scientific Officer 1
Generalist staff Higher Executive Officer 1
Office Manager Executive Officer 1
Support to the Secretary Personal Secretary 1
General Support Administrative Officer 1
General Support Administrative Assistant 1
Total   11

1. There have been a number of changes over recent years to the numbers and grades of staff. The reasons for these are briefly outlined below: in 1989 staff support numbered 7, but this was increased by 4 in the following year. An extra Grade 7 administrator, Senior Scientific Officer and HEO/D were taken on to create a second team of staff to assist with the newly introduced series of short studies. A further HSO was recruited at the same time to oversee development of electronic databases for preparing reports. When the separate programme of short studies was discontinued at the end of 1992, the additional Grade 7 administrator post was dropped, but the SSO and HEO/D were retained to cope with the increased workload resulting from the introduction of overlapping major studies.

2. In 1992 a new post of Assistant Secretary (Economic) was added at Grade 7 level in response to DOE concern about economic expertise. This bought the Secretariat's numbers to 11. The figure remained constant until the Assistant Secretary (Economic) took early retirement in 1997, and an additional Grade 7 was appointed to overlap with him, bringing numbers temporarily up to 12. The provision of a part time secretary for the Chairman saw the total reach 13, but the secretary's departure and the subsequent retirement saw numbers drop to the present 11.

3. Other recent changes include the upgrading of an HSO post to SSO during 1998, although a career development move for the postholder resulted in a replacement being sought at HSO level. The post of Office Manager was downgraded from HEO to EO, and the decision made to support the Chairman by making a payment towards the salary costs of secretarial staff at his main office.

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Published 19 April 2000 / Updated 11 May 2000
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