To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) away days and (b) conferences that took place outside his Department's building attended by civil servants in his Department there have been since 2005; and what the cost was of each. (307521)

Details of away days and conferences are not centrally recorded, and the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The Department's accounting system does not record expenditure on away days separately from other staff training and development costs and to identify and summarise these costs for the period would incur disproportionate cost.

The expenditure on conferences within the Department's administration costs for financial years 2005-06 to 2008-09 is set out in the table.

These figures include conference running costs, room hire, hospitality, accommodation and travel costs of conference speakers.

An analysis of costs by each conference could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.