Government headcount questioned in wake of budget

Alex Allinson said cutting the government headcount could hit services

An increase of more than 700 people on government payroll over the past seven years is “excessive” , a member of the Tynwald scrutiny committee has said.

John Wannenburgh MHK questioned what the treasury was doing to reduce the headcount as the minister gave evidence to the Economic Policy Review Committee.

Figures released last year showed the number of employees had risen by 739 to 8,324 since March 2016.

Treasury Minister Alex Allinson said “vacancy management” and a more digitalisation were being used to reduce numbers, but cutting the headcount quickly could be “devastating” for services.

'Lack of appetite'

Dr Allinson made the comments during a post-budget evidence session alongside his department's chief executive, in the wake of the announcement of a 2% rise in the higher rate of income tax.

He told the panel the biggest government employers were Manx Care, which had 2,600 staff, and the Department of Education, Sport and Culture, which had 1,700.

Committee chairman Claire Christian queried why the number of employees at the Cabinet Office had remained stagnant when some functions had been transferred to the Treasury and to the Department for Enterprise,

While Mr Wannenburgh said that there seemed to be a “lack of appetite” when it came to cutting staff numbers.

However, Dr Allinson argued individual departments were “constantly” looking at how they could reduce costs with a lot of vacancies being “managed” instead of refilled.