To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people he expects to be made redundant from his Department in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010. (275123)

Every effort is made to avoid compulsory redundancies across the Department. A departmental early release scheme will result in 498 volunteers leaving the Department early in financial year 2009-10, but there are no plans for compulsory redundancies.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his Department's staff have been made redundant in each of the last five years; and how much was paid in redundancy compensation in each such year. (275124)

To provide specific information would require a Department-wide trawl to ascertain total costs for all individuals who have left the Department on redundancy terms on local redundancy schemes. This could be done only at disproportionate cost.

We hold information centrally on Department-wide voluntary early release schemes launched in 2005 and 2008, in connection with the civil service-wide reductions required under the 2004 and 2007 spending reviews. The total liability cost to the Department of individuals who left or are expected to leave on voluntary terms under these schemes is as follows: