To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many training courses civil servants in his Department undertook in each of the last three years; and what the cost of such training was in each year. (266266)

The Scotland Office encourages all staff to undertake learning and development activities. The majority of opportunities are provided through the Scottish Executive and the Ministry of Justice at no direct cost to the Office; but where the training need is still not available within central Government, external training courses may be considered.

The Office incurred the following direct expenditure:

The Office does not maintain a central record of all training courses attended by staff.