Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether political advisers receive redundancy payment when they resume the same responsibilities(a) when the appointing Minister leaves his post and the appointment is renewed by his successor and (b) when the same Government are returned after a general election; and since 1986, how many political advisers have resumed their same responsibilities after a change of appointing Minister and after a general election.
§ Mr. WaldegraveAlthough each Minister's appointment of a special adviser is formally a new appointment, no severance payments are made if there is no break in the special adviser's service. Since 1986, special advisers have remained in post after a change of appointing Minister on eight occasions, including, in one case, following the 1992 general election.