Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been paid to recruitment agencies by (a) his Department and (b) its executive agencies and associated bodies in each year since 2010.

The Ministry of Defence has made payments to recruitment agencies since 2010 as follows:

This expenditure relates to recruitment to the permanent Senior Civil Service across the MOD, including the Trading Funds (the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the Defence Support Group and the UK Hydrographic Office). It represents the costs of searches, advertisements, response handling, assessment and support to selection panels. The figures do not include expenditure on Contingent Labour, the process used to engage temporary staff through recruitment agency contracts.

Recruitment to the MOD for all grades below the Senior Civil Service is carried out by Defence Business Services who do not make use of external recruitment agencies.