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Radiocommunications
Agency
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Radiocommunications
Agency
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Personnel Management
1995/96 was dominated by the personnel implications of the reorganisation of the District
Offices following the outcome of the 1995 Ministerial review. This involved the
significant redeployment of staff, early retirements and, unfortunately, several
redundancies.
The reduction in the level of vacancies in the Agency continued to be a high priority for
the personnel management team. 1995/96 saw significant recruitment activity externally and
from elsewhere within Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Government.
Much work has been undertaken in 1995/96 following the final tranche of personnel
delegations in the previous year, in particular with implementing the Agency's policy and
action programme for equal opportunities in employment.
The Agency has continued with preparatory work for the delegation of grading and pay to
Government departments on 1 April 1996, as part of the Government's initiative in the
White Paper on the Civil Service Continuity and Change.
Training
The Agency Training Strategy provides a framework for the provision of appropriate
training and development of staff. The Agency has continued to use a variety of sources to
meet its training requirements and, increasingly, works closely with providers to tailor
training to meet specific needs - for example project management, IT, equal opportunities
and specialised technical training for RA Regional staff.
The Agency is seeking accreditation as an Investor in People. Preparatory work began in
1995/96 in order to assess the effectiveness of the Training Strategy and the integration
of business needs and individual's personal development.
Open Recruitment
The Agency has systems in place to ensure that open recruitment is carried out in
accordance with the principles of fair and open competition and selection on merit -
prescribed in the Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment Code. All open recruitment
campaigns are managed by the Agency's Personnel Section or RAS on its behalf. The process
is monitored at each stage to provide equal opportunities data on the gender, ethnic
origin, disability (and in Northern Ireland community background) of applicants and is
subject to internal check. Table 3 is a summary of the gender, ethnic and disability data
for 1995/6 open recruitment campaigns.
TABLE 3: Gender, Ethnic & Disability Data
(i) Engineering Grades
| White M/F |
Ethnic Minority M/F |
No Response M/F |
Registered Disability M/F |
Total M/F |
|
| Applied | 225/13 |
49/2 |
43/2 |
0/0 |
317/17 |
| Sifted in | 33/2 |
8/0 |
2/0 |
0/0 |
43/2 |
| Offered post | 6/2 |
1/0 |
1/0 |
0/0 |
8/2 |
(ii) Administration Grades
| White M/F |
Ethnic Minority M/F |
No Response M/F |
Registered Disability M/F |
Total M/F |
|
| Applied | 274/366 |
148/176 |
18/21 |
17/7 |
440/563 |
| Sifted in | 24/58 |
6/7 |
1/5 |
7/5 |
31/70 |
| Offered post | 9/25 |
4/2 |
1/1 |
1/0 |
14/28 |
During 1995/6 the Agency made use of permitted exceptions to fair and open competition in
two categories:
(a) Short-term appointments where highly specialised skills were required: a casual HPTO was appointed to work on a project requiring expertise not currently available in the Agency,
(b) Extensions of appointments of less than 12 months: six casual AO/AA staff covering vacant posts had their appointments extended beyond 12 months to ensure continuity either during relocation of the Agency headquarters to South Quay 3 or during the period of dispersal and relocation following the bombing.
TABLE 4: STAFF NUMBERS
| 31 March 1996 | 31 March 1995 | |
| Agency complement | 585 |
582 |
| Staff in post | 512 |
540.5 |
| Vacancies | 73 |
41.5 |
| Total consultants, contract staff and casual staff (including part time) (see note*) |
50 |
45 |
| Overtime worked (man years) in year | 15.8 |
8.9 |
| Analysis of staff in post: | ||
| Professional/technical/industrial | 237 |
264 |
| Managerial/executive/clerical/secretarial | 275 |
276.5 |
Total |
512 |
540.5 |
| Located in: | ||
| London Headquarters | 349.5 |
337.5 |
| Radio Technology and Compatibility Group, Whyteleafe | 21.5 |
22.5 |
| Radio Monitoring Station, Baldock | 26 |
28.5 |
| Local Customer Service Offices | 115 |
152 |
Total |
512 |
540.5 |
| Serving in: | ||
| Chief Executive's office | 9 |
5 |
| Branch 1 - International work, spectrum management | 52.7 |
54.5 |
| Branch 2 - Mobile services | 103.9 |
102 |
| Branch 3 - Broadcasting, fixed and space services | 66 |
63 |
| Branch 4 - Finance, corporate planning, information services | 58.8 |
58.5 |
| Branch 5 - Monitoring/Investigation/local offices (see note °) | 179.3 |
205.5 |
| Branch 6 - Information, personnel | 42.3 |
52 |
Total |
512 |
540.5 |
Notes
* Part time workers are counted on the basis of hours worked
° Sixteen staff left on 28th March 1996
Competing for Quality
Market testing/Contracting out
The majority of responses to the 1994 consultative document 'The Future Management of the
Radio Spectrum' considered strongly that a number of core functions should continue to be
exercised by a public sector body accountable to Parliament. The White Paper 'Spectrum
Management: into the 21st Century' (June 1996, Command 3252) listed those core functions
identified by Ministers. The White Paper also made clear that establishment of the new
spectrum pricing regime would open the door to a range of privatisation options. However,
these measures would require a wholesale revision of the legislation beyond that already
planned.
Outside these core functions there is extensive scope for contractorisation, much of which
has already been realised. On relocation to London Docklands in October 1995, the Agency
contracted out its support services to BET Management Services Ltd.
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