To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department and its agencies paid to recruitment consultants in each year since 1997. (200490)

Recruitment costs in the Home Department do not fall to a central budget. The Home Office frequently uses the same companies for recruitment services as it does for other services, including for example the employment of temporary staff. Although it can identify the total paid to those companies, it cannot separately determine the costs solely relating to recruitment without disproportionate costs.