To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer of 3 September 2007, Official Report, column 1584W, on redundancy pay, how much was spent by his Department on voluntary redundancy payments in the last 12 months. (166285)

Between November 2006 and October 2007 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spent £1,749,531 on voluntary redundancy payments. These departures formed part of a restructuring programme to enable FCO Services, an Executive Agency of the FCO, to operate successfully as a Trading Fund from April 2008.