To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many civil servants in his Department and its predecessors (a) transferred to other Government Departments and (b) left the Civil Service in each of the last five years. (162728)

The Department was formed in the Machinery of Government changes announced on 28 June 2007. Its formation involved the headcount transfer of 536 staff from the former Department for Education and Skills and 243 from the Department of Trade and Industry (total 779 staff). There have been no significant numbers of staff movements or departures since that date. The latest staffing figure for my Department is a headcount total of 761 staff or full-time equivalent of 727.