To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department and its agencies paid to recruitment consultants in each year since 1997. (140035)

DEFRA came into being in June 2001. From information held centrally, the amount (including VAT) paid by core DEFRA in each financial year commencing with 2002-03, when information was first available, is shown in the following table.

Expenditure by DEFRA’s Executive agencies is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

DEFRA’s use of recruitment agencies is limited to recruiting specialist and senior posts requiring specialist skills which are not readily available internally and therefore requires recruitment of the right talent and experience from outside of the organisation.