To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was of the Government Social Research Service in his Department in each of the last five years; how many projects have been completed by the service in that period; and how many people are employed in the Service in his Department. (95853)

This information is not available in the form requested. There are currently 39 (full-time equivalent) members of the Government Social Research Service employed in the Department for Education and Skills. The annual salary cost of these staff is £1.43 million. In 2005 there were 48.4 full-time equivalent staff and their salary cost was £1.72 million.

Research and analysis in the Department is conducted by multi-disciplinary teams. It is not possible, therefore, to say how many research projects were completed by social researchers alone as they often work jointly with economists, statisticians and operational researchers. The total number of research projects completed for the Department in each of the last five years is as follows: