To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what training courses have been attended by special advisers in his Department in the last 12 months; and at what cost. (279402)

Special advisers receive training as appropriate to enable them to fulfil their duties and responsibilities as set out in the Model Contract for Special Advisers. The only training undertaken by the MOD special advisers in the last 12 months has been theatre pre-deployment training. This in-house training includes the mandatory briefings on safety and security and survival, evasion, resistance and extraction prior to visiting operational theatres.