§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what guidelines are operated by his Department as regards the use of executive search agencies to fill vacancies within his Department and his Department's executive agencies; and in what circumstances his Department employs executive search agencies instead of relying fully on departmental resources to fill vacant posts.
§ Mr. GoodladI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 15 December,Official Report, column 760. My Department's executive agencies make no use of executive search agencies, so there are no guidelines. Should my Department or an executive agency under its control decide to use an executive search agency, it would follow the guidelines set out in "Guidance on Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment".