Pen pushers 'draining public funds'

Plans to pump extra billions into schools and hospitals are being put at risk by sharp rises in staff numbers across Whitehall, it emerged today.

The number of permanent civil servants increased by more than 22,000 to 512,400 in the year to April, costing more than £500 million a year in pay.

The growth in the civil service is around five times greater than in the economy as a whole. The figures allowed the Tories to claim tax rises were being spent on "pen pushers, not public services".

The Opposition said the billions earmarked for extra spending in the health service and education were to be swallowed up by salaries.

The number of staff answerable to Chancellor Gordon Brown has grown sharply, with Inland Revenue employees increasing by more than 7,000.