To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department and its agencies paid to recruitment consultants in each year since 1997. (140028)

With the following exceptions, the information for the Chancellor's Departments and their agencies could be provided at disproportionate cost only. Information on spending on recruitment consultancy is not held in a format whereby it can be separated out from other external management consultancy, or from the cost of agency staff. The Government Actuary's Department has provided a nil return, the Valuation Office Agency can confirm that it did not use recruitment consultants during 2006-07, and the Royal Mint and the Debt Management Office have been able to provide the following figures for recruitment consultancy fees.