Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many security passes into his Department are issued to people (a) not directly employed by and (b) who are not civil servants who work in his Department.

Civil servants have to have the ability to work flexibly across Government sites where there is a business need to do so. The issuing of all passes is controlled by the local Departmental Security teams. Passes can also be issued to contractors or secondees based within Government premises on a case by case basis in regards to specific business needs. Numbers of passes issued directly to non-civil servants for access to departmental buildings will fluctuate over the course of a year.