Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department spent on (a) recruitment agency fees, (b) outplacement agency fees for displaced or redundant staff and (c) staff training in each of the last five years.

The majority of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) training budget is delegated to the individual business units. This enables them to target resources to their learning priorities. BIS does not centrally collate details of individual course attendances.

The spend on training in core BIS in the last five years is

We are unable to provide details of spend in relation to parts (a) and (b). The information is not held against discrete finance headings and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.