To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on how many occasions people his Department had formerly directly employed were retained by the Department on a consultancy basis in the last financial year for which figures are available; and how much was paid to such people in that year. (263977)

The Department for International Development (DFID) does not retain a central record of contracts awarded to former DFID employees on a consultancy basis. To provide this information would incur disproportionate cost. DFID has strict rules and guidance on the engagement of former DFID employees as consultants.