To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many external training courses were attended by staff of his Department in the last 12 months; and what the cost was of attendance on each such course. (289704)

In the 12 month period from 1 September 2008 to 31 August 2009 records show that 2,500 Ministry of Justice staff attended external courses. This figure excludes the National Offender Management Service, as to obtain this information would involve identifying and contacting sources of information in many different locations at a disproportionate cost. Responsibility for decisions on training rests with line managers, again there is no central collation of management information on the cost of attendance of these courses and this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.