§ Ms EagleTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many advisers his Department employs broken down to show(a) political advisers and (b) economic advisers; at what grade and salary they are employed; and what are their minimum working hours in each case.
§ Sir John WheelerThe Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office employ one political adviser at special adviser grade and one part-time economic adviser.
Salaries for special advisers are negotiated individually and are confidential. They are, however, normally paid on a special adviser's salary spine of 34 points ranging from £19,503 to £67,609, for 41 conditioned hours per week.
The part-time economic adviser works at least one half-day per week and is paid £12,000 per annum.
In addition, economic advice is obtained from career civil servants who may be employed on a variety of working patterns.