To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 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 his Department’s annual report. (102998)

People employed through employment agencies and on a consultancy basis are not included in the numbers of full-time equivalent staff mentioned in the Department’s annual report. Office for National Statistics guidance to Departments provides that self-employed contract workers and agency workers not paid directly from the payroll should be excluded from counts measuring the number of employees in the public sector and that only employees with an employment contract who are being paid by the organisation should be included.