To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many vacant posts in his Department were advertised in each of the last three years; and at what cost. (230598)

All the staff in the Scotland Office are on loan from other Government Departments and the Office reimburses those Departments for the costs involved. In the last three years, the Office has directly advertised externally for one post, and contributed towards the advertising costs of a joint campaign with the Scottish Executive for other staff, at a total cost of £8,069.