Lord Robathan corrected the Commons record on Defence Equipment and Support: Recruitment

10 October 2011 · Commons Hansard, Written Corrections

Lord Robathan made the correction and printed in Hansard's Written Corrections on 10 October 2011. The correction replaced 5 figures (100, 150, 2.5, 4.5, 5,500) with 6 figures (0.5, 160, 2.2, 200, 4.1, 6,700). Altogether 40 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of recruitment and retention rates for Defence Equipment and Support staff based in (a) Glasgow and (b) Bristol. Letter of correction from Andrew Robathan: An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Anas Sarwar) on 6 September 2011. The original answer failed to take account of organisational changes that took place in April 2011 but which were not recorded on the departmental HR management information system until August. The data provided in the original answer covered the period August 2010 to July 2011 only. The full answer given was as follows:

Original and corrected words

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
Defence Equipment and Support ~~currently employs~~ around ~~100~~ civilian staff in Glasgow and around ~~5,500~~ civilian staff at its headquarters in ~~Bristol.~~ The significant difference in numbers means that direct comparisons cannot readily be made. In the year to ~~July 2011,~~ about ~~2.5%~~ of Bristol staff and about 1% of Glasgow staff left through retirement or resignation compared with around ~~4.5%~~ for Defence Equipment and Support as a whole. The restrictions on recruitment across the whole of the Ministry of Defence mean that there has only been external recruitment into critical or specialised posts. In the year to ~~July 2011,~~ we recruited around ~~150~~ new staff in Bristol and none in Glasgow. ~~The correct answer should have been:~~	As at 31 August 2011 , Defence Equipment and Support employed around 200 civilian staff in Glasgow and around 6,700 civilian staff at its headquarters in Bristol . The significant difference in numbers means that direct comparisons cannot readily be made. In the year to August 2011 , about 2.2% of Bristol staff and about 0.5% of Glasgow staff left through retirement or resignation compared with around 4.1% for Defence Equipment and Support as a whole. The restrictions on recruitment across the whole of the Ministry of Defence mean that there has only been external recruitment into critical or specialised posts. In the year to August 2011 , we recruited around 160 new staff in Bristol and none in Glasgow.

Original

Corrected

Defence Equipment and Support ~~currently employs~~ around ~~100~~ civilian staff in Glasgow and around ~~5,500~~ civilian staff at its headquarters in ~~Bristol.~~ The significant difference in numbers means that direct comparisons cannot readily be made. In the year to ~~July 2011,~~ about ~~2.5%~~ of Bristol staff and about 1% of Glasgow staff left through retirement or resignation compared with around ~~4.5%~~ for Defence Equipment and Support as a whole.
The restrictions on recruitment across the whole of the Ministry of Defence mean that there has only been external recruitment into critical or specialised posts. In the year to ~~July 2011,~~ we recruited around ~~150~~ new staff in Bristol and none in Glasgow.
~~The correct answer should have been:~~

As at 31 August 2011 , Defence Equipment and Support employed around 200 civilian staff in Glasgow and around 6,700 civilian staff at its headquarters in Bristol . The significant difference in numbers means that direct comparisons cannot readily be made. In the year to August 2011 , about 2.2% of Bristol staff and about 0.5% of Glasgow staff left through retirement or resignation compared with around 4.1% for Defence Equipment and Support as a whole.
The restrictions on recruitment across the whole of the Ministry of Defence mean that there has only been external recruitment into critical or specialised posts. In the year to August 2011 , we recruited around 160 new staff in Bristol and none in Glasgow.

The correction in Hansard.

Receipt

Read from	https://hansard-api.parliament.uk/debates/debate/11101033000003.json
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`2e1659ca7622d53d5819a99535598166dcf8b6f90aa1a4357a08c348e1e892c9`