To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much the Department paid in fees to recruitment agencies for (a) temporary and (b) permanent staff in each year since 1997. (151664)

The recorded expenditure for agency staff for each financial year since 1997 is as follows:

Expenditure in respect of temporary and permanent agency staff is not recorded separately. The increase in expenditure in 2006-07 arose from the need to recruit temporary staff to assist Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Services to move to Trading Fund status, and to enable the FCO’s account to be signed off earlier than in previous years.