Department for Education and Skills Special Advisers

HL Deb 05 December 2002 vol 641 c125WA

Baroness Blatch

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many non-civil servant advisers have been employed in the Department for Education and Skills to assist Ministers since May 1997; and how many remain on the payroll. [HL241]

Baroness Ashton of Upholland

It might be helpful if I say that non-civil servants in the deparment fall into three categories: secondees; self-employed people with whom we contract; and consultants with whose firms we contract. Only exceptionally are they reimbursed through the payroll. Special advisers brought in to advise Ministers are civil servants for the term of their employment and are therefore excluded from the reply.

Three non-civil servants, of whom two remain on the payroll, have been employed in the Department for Education and Skills and the former Department for Education and Employment since May 1997. All other people on the department's payroll are civil servants for the term of their employment.