Jobs hit by DOT cash cuts
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• The Department of Transport is to undergo a massive reorganisation in a bid to slash costs and make 20% "efficiency gains" over the next two years.
The department will split into three main divisions which will concentrate on infrastructure, to include road, rail, ports, airports; operations which will include rail, road safety, including Traffic Area Co-ordinating Division and a new department responsible for environmental and safety issues. Jobs will inevitably be lost among the DOT's 15,000 employees, and some top civil servants' posts are to go.
The projected budget for the current year is £5.8bn; for 1995/96 the DOT expects to spend £5.5bn.
Line managers are expected to present efficiency saving ideas to permanent secretary Patrick Brown over the next few months.
The changes are due to be implemented in August.
• The Vehicle Inspectorate must meet more stringent efficiency savings, Transport Secretary John MacGregor said fast week. The VI was hoping to have its target of 5% efficiency savings agreed by MacGregor, but he is now asking for 8%. Some 3% of that figure is to be reinvested in the agency; and an actual saving of 5% must also be made. Details will be in the VI's Business Plan which is due to be published soon. Enforcement targets set by the DOT are the same as last year.