Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost of using external agencies for recruitment to senior Civil Service posts in his Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Where external recruitment to Senior Civil Service (SCS) posts is required, recruitment agencies and head-hunters may be engaged to assist with campaigns. The costs of agency services include search, advertisement, response handling, assessment and support to selection panels.

Details of spend on SCS recruitment with external agencies and head-hunters, by calendar year, are as follows:

Note: information held by the Ministry of Defence extends to 31 March 2015 only; from 1 April 2015 recruitment for SCS posts has been managed centrally by Civil Service Resourcing.