To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department and its agencies paid to recruitment consultants in each year since 1997. (140044)

DWP has this information available only from 6 April 2004. The amounts given as follows represent the total value of the contracts awarded to recruitment agencies, rather than actual spend, for exercises to recruit staff into the Department within the periods shown.

The Department for Work and Pensions makes use of executive search consultants to provide expertise in executive search and selection, particularly for senior and specialist staff in circumstances where the relevant skills, qualifications and experience are not available or in very limited supply across the Department and Whitehall.