§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment 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.
§ Sir Paul BeresfordExecutive search agencies are appointed by competitive tender in accordance with the Department's rules on the engagement of consultants. They are used to assist the mandatory process of public open competition for the occasional recruitment to singleton specialist and senior posts. The agencies provide expert knowledge of the target market sector, and handle ancillary clerical tasks such as the procurement of advertising and the processing of applications, for which it would not be cost-effective to maintain stand-by resources in the Department.