The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
We do hold information on a Department-wide voluntary early release scheme which was launched in March 2005, in connection with the civil service-wide reductions required under the 2004 Spending Review. Under this scheme 643 staff left in 2005-06, at a cost of £41 million; 660 staff left in 2006-07 at a cost of £43 million; a further 706 are planned to be released at an estimated cost of £80 million in 2007-08.