Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have, if any, to reduce the costs of government special advisers.

I refer the Noble Lord to the Written Statement made on 17 December 2015, HLWS417, which I have attached for each of reference.

The attached list of Special Advisers sets out the names of the Special Advisers in post as of December 2015, each special adviser’s pay band, and actual salary (where this is higher than the Senior Civil Service entry-level salary), together with details of the total pay bill for 2014-15 and the estimate for 2015-16. The cost has fallen from last year, and the cost represents just 0.08 per cent of the Civil Service pay bill.