Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many vacant civilian staff full-time equivalent posts Defence Equipment and Support has backfilled with contractors or contingent labour in each of the last three years; and what the cost to the public purse was of those arrangements.

Contingent labour is only used for instances where Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) does not have the specialist skills it needs in-house, or for urgent requirements where normal recruitment activities would not fill the post in time with a civilian or military employee.

The cost and average number of contingent labour personnel used by DE&S in each of the last three financial years is shown in the table below.