Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.

The records available to the Department for Transport via the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), as declared by suppliers on their permanent recruitment frameworks, for each of the last three years are as follows:

Note: Recruitment consultancies are used by the department to attract the talent and specialist skills required to deliver its strategic objectives and services. It is possible, but unlikely, that some spend has occurred that has not been declared by suppliers, although the Department’s internal finance system does not record data in such a way that allows this to be cross-checked. These totals are inclusive of recruitment to the Department for Transport and its Executive Agencies (DVSA, DVLA, MCA, VCA and ATE) and for both senior civil service (SCS) and delegated grade recruitment. The figure for 20/21 was higher than expected due to a higher volume of recruitment targeted at individuals with specialist/hard to recruit skills. The increase in 22/23 over the previous year results from a renewed focus on the department’s places for growth agenda and a growing focus on recruiting outside London.