Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of staff working in his Department are employed on fixed-term contracts.

Fixed term contracts are used by the Department to meet a number of requirements. These include covering short term increases in work, backfilling for a permanent member of staff who will subsequently return to their post or to deliver a finite, time limited piece of work. The use of short term appointments is monitored closely to ensure that they are only used when it is necessary to do so.

As at 31 July 2017, the latest date at which data is available, the Department employed 1820 people on fixed term contracts. This represents 2.2% of those employed.