To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff were employed through employment agencies in (a) her Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest time was for which these temporary workers were employed in each year. (102956)

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its executive agency, the Royal Parks, employ temporary agency staff on the basis of a booking which can last from as little as one day to many months. The number of individual bookings in each of the last five years, for which centrally held information is available, is as follows:

There are 13 temporary agency staff currently working in the Department and nine in the Royal Parks.

The other information requested could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff were employed on a consultancy basis in (a) her Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest period was for which a consultant was employed in each year. (102974)

There are currently eight consultants employed and working in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and one person who is on secondment from a consultancy firm. There are two consultants working in our executive agency, the Royal Parks. These exclude contractors working in the Department and the Royal Parks, e.g. those providing facilities management and other support services; and they exclude those providing ad hoc consultancy who are not based in the Department or the Royal Parks.

The other information requested could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether people employed (a) through employment agencies and (b) on a consultancy basis are included in the calculations for the full-time equivalent staff mentioned in her Department's annual report. (102993)

In the Staff Numbers table on page 116 of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's annual report, the data for full-time equivalent staff do not include people employed through (a) agencies (as the footnote makes clear) and (b) on a consultancy basis.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her Department's annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis; and how much of this budget was used in each of the last five years for which records are available. (103033)

The Department's accounting system records costs for all consultancy services under management consultants, IT consultants, other consultants and other professional advice. The Department uses consultants for a variety of purposes and much of the Department's expenditure on this will not have been used for consultants working in the Department. There are currently eight consultants employed and working in the Department and one person on secondment from a consultancy firm. The total cost to the Department of using all consultancy services in each of the last five years is shown in the following table.