Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent on staff away days in each of the last six years.

The Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies are committed to developing their staff and equipping them with the skills and knowledge to carry out their work. Away-days, other similar team-based development activities and very occasional residential training all make a contribution to such development. This type of development activity is typically arranged by individual teams within the Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies. No central records of these events are held, and to collect this information would incur disproportionate costs.