Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many senior civil servants appointed to positions in his Department since 2010 were previously (a) political appointees within that Department and (b) employed by a political party.

The department does not hold data relating to political activity prior to appointment, of its Senior Civil Servants. However, all Senior Civil Servants within our department must adhere to section 14 of the Civil Service code relating to Political Impartiality which can be found at

http://resources.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/civil-service-code-2010.pdf