Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the gender balance is of staff working in the Ministerial office of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in his Department, the hon. Member for Keighley.

My Ministerial office is staffed by four full time employees of the Department, two of whom are male and two female. With regard to ethnicity, three of my office are White British and one is British Asian Indian.

As the hon. Member will be aware from his time as a special adviser in the Treasury, ministerial private offices are a key link in handling ministerial correspondance, organising the ministerial diaries, supporting ministers on external engagements and visits, conveying Minister's views to officials and overseeing the provision of advice to Ministers, handling communications and policy discussions with other Government Departments, and providing Ministers with general information and views from their Departments.

We have cut the administrative costs of private offices by 30% compared to the last administration. The cost of ministerial private offices represents just 0.4% of the Department's overall running costs.