To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his Department's policy is on employing secondees from the private sector; how many secondees from the (a) private and (b) public sectors his Department employed in each year since 1997; from which companies and organisations they were seconded; at what level they were employed; and if he will make a statement. [127062]

The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since then the department has employed two individuals from the private sector (Bank of Scotland) at Grade 7 and SEO levels in 2002 and two individuals from the public sector (House of Lords) at Grade 7 and SCS level, one in 2001 and one in 2002.