§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the special advisers in his Department, the Minister to whom each is responsible, the subjects on which they advise, and the number of advisers in his Department in the year up to 1 May. [5357]
§ Mr. Chris SmithThere are two special advisers in my Department, John Newbigin and Julian Eccles, who advise me across the full range of the Department's responsibilities.
There were two special advisers employed by the previous administration in the year to May 1997, one from 25 March to 10 October 1996, and the other from 2 October 1996 to 6 April 1997.