To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) special advisers, (b) press officers, (c) civil servants, (d) advisers to civil servants and (e) permanent staff were working for his Department in each year since 1996. [126482]

The numbers of Special Advisers and Press Officers in my Department for the years in question were:

	Special adviser	Press officer
1997	3	20.5
1998	3	29.5
1999	3	28
2000	3	28
2001	2	123
2002	2	26
2003	2	23.5
1This excludes five members of staff who transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions following the Machinery of Government changes in 2001.

The term "adviser to civil servants" is not recognised.Information on permanent civil service staff numbers in each department and agency is contained in Table C of the annual publication "Civil Service Statistics". Copies of the publication are laid in the Libraries of both Houses. The latest edition, based on April 2002 data, was published on 24 July 2003 and provides details of staff numbers between 1996 and 2002. The staff numbers include Press Officers.Alternatively, this information is available at the following address on the Cabinet Office Statistics website: http://www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics/css.htm