Stormont staff 'double No 10'
AN investigation into staffing levels in the Office of First and Deputy First Minister has been called for, after it emerged that it employs around twice as many people as 10 Downing Street.
OFMDFM employs 415 staff, costing some 14.1 million a year.
This compares to a Downing Street staff in the region of 200 people.
Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy and his party colleague MLA Sam Gardiner have said OFMDFM is overstaffed.
They believe it is duplicating the work of other departments.
However, First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have said comparison with other departments and offices, such as Downing Street, was unfair and not matching like with like.
The pair also noted that much of OFMDFM’s work is multi-faceted and not only strays into many other departmental areas but also into Europe and America.
Mr Kennedy said: “There are only some 200 staff employed in the Number 10 Downing Street complex to co-ordinate the running of a country of 60 million and there are 415, more than twice that number, employed in OFMDFM to run a Province of 1.7 million.
“The differential is hard to explain, even with added-on functions in OFMDFM.”
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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