Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many private recruitment agencies his Department uses to fill senior vacancies; what the potential cost to the public purse is of these services; and what steps his Department is taking to monitor performance.

To date in financial year 2024-25, there have been three permanent Senior Civil Servant (SCS) Payband 1 or 2 recruitment campaigns, and three SCS Payband 3 or 4 campaigns that have engaged a private sector Executive Search firm. The cost of these services is commercial-in-confidence so cannot be provided at this time.

Top Level Budgets in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) hold individual commercial contracts with Executive Search firms and are responsible for monitoring performance, with the MOD also overseeing this centrally.