To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff were employed through employment agencies in (a) his 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. (102949)

DEFRA came into being in June 2001. From information held centrally the numbers of personnel engaged through employment agencies in core-DEFRA in each of the last four financial years are:

The longest assignment length is 52 weeks and the mean assignment lengths for each of the four financial years are 18.5 weeks; 18.4 weeks; 16.1 weeks; and 13.7 weeks respectively.