Questions about how government can reduce its headcount were raised in Tynwald.

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan announced that more transparent reporting of staff numbers with quarterly updates would be introduced and tighter checks on recruitment brought in by the end of the year.

Figures released under Freedom of Information show that the total public service headcount rose from 7,680 in March 2016 to 8,419 at the beginning of September last year, the full-time equivalent increasing from 6,751.76 to 7,432.50 over the same period.

Douglas North MHK David Ashford said that was a substantial rise. He said it was all very well simplifying the way headcount numbers are reported but queried how government could ensure staff were in the right roles in the right place and were being productive. Mr Cannan claimed there is a lot of confusion attached to how the figures are reported.

He said: ‘Many of these numbers will be front-line staff in education and health.

‘We need to present the facts to everybody in a clear way and explain where there has been growth, why there has been growth.’

Douglas South MHK Claire Christian asked why tighter checks on recruitment couldn’t be brought in now rather than waiting until the end of the year.

The Chief Minister replied there are different ways of controlling recruitment.

He said: ‘Recruitment freezes in themselves have not always been successful. There’s plenty of evidence to say they can negated somewhat by bringing in temporary staff or employing contract staff to complete tasks.’

He said the policy needed thought and buy-in from across the public sector so that it would have a proper impact on areas where it was needed.

Following the UK’s raid on the island’s VAT share, which resulted in government income being slashed by a third, steps were taken to reduce government headcount, which fell by about 850.

But since then, numbers have shown an upward trend with the FTE figure being 6,702.9 in 2015, 6,736.5 in 2016, 6,904.5 in 2018, 6,930.7 in 2019, 6,905.7 in 2020, 7049.4 in 2021, 7243.6 in 2022 and 7,265.9 at the end of February last year.

These figures do not include Isle of Man Post Office and Manx Utilities staff although some Water and Sewerage Authority staff who transferred to MU are included in the 2016 figure.

The total annual amount paid in salaries, including all gross payments, was more than £372m as at the end of March last year.

There have been calls in Tynwald for government to restore the headcount control mechanism which was in place before 2016.