Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much her Department spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.
External recruitment agencies and search firms are an important resource which support the Civil Service's ability to recruit - to find talented people, in the right places, with the right capabilities to deliver for the people of the United Kingdom. The Civil Service has developed a number of commercial frameworks which provide transparency, high quality services and value for money.
As the Hon member may recall, the Prime Minister announced the creation of DSIT on 7 Feb 2023. For the time periods specified in this request the Department therefore did not exist or systems had not yet been put in place to separate the new departments and the parliamentary supply was not disaggregated.
As such the answer for DSIT is nil.