Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much her Department spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.

The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. External recruitment agencies and search firms are an important resource which support the Civil Service's ability to recruit, particularly 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 several commercial frameworks which provide transparency, high quality services and value for money.