To ask Her Majesty's Government what personal training courses at public expense Lord West of Spithead has undertaken since his appointment as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office; what the duration was of the training he received; what the cost was; and which organisations supplied the training. [HL1933]

Since my appointment in June 2007, I have attended three training workshops. One course lasted half a day and was for a large number of new Ministers. The other two lasted for one hour each and were on parliamentary procedure. The cost of the half day course was £200.

The two hour long training sessions incurred only nominal staff costs. All three were provided by the National School of Government.