Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the average time taken was to fill vacancies for (a) Administrative Assistant/Administrative Officer, (b) Executive Officer, (c) Senior Executive Officer/Higher Executive Officer, (d) Grades six and seven civil servants and (e) Senior Civil Service grade positions in her Department in each of the last five financial years.

DFID does not hold this information. DFID follows Civil Service Recruitment principles and targets a maximum of 8 weeks for cross government staff to join and 12 weeks for staff joining new to the Civil Service. The time frame is dependent on the individual's notice period required, security and medical clearance and any other relevant checks to confirm employment.