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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, 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.

My Department has reduced staffing costs from £218 million a year in 2009-10 to £95 million in 2013-14, an ongoing saving of £123 million a year.

There is and remains a need to replace staff from general turnover and where we need specific technical skills. We are committed to open recruitment, so we can obtain individual staff with the best expertise from the private sector, the voluntary sector and other parts of the public sector.

The total sums spent on recruitment agencies are as follows:

These figures exclude public appointments and Cabinet Office recruitment but are inclusive of VAT.

We have not made any such outplacement agencies fees in the last five years.

This Government has taken a series of steps to save taxpayers' money and improve overall quality of the training provision. My answer of 24 February 2015, Question 224508, outlined the spending in each full financial year from 2008-09 onwards.