§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list for each of the executive agencies for the last financial year in respect of overseas travel by agency staff(a) the costs of the travel, (b) the countries visited and (c) the posts held by the staff concerned. [2289]
§ Mr. Robin SquireTwo executive agencies report to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State: the Teachers' Pensions Agency and the Employment Service.
In the last financial year there was no overseas travel by staff of the Teachers' Pension Agency.
Details of overseas travel by staff of the Employment Service are not separately recorded and could not be provided without disproportionate cost. The number of Employment Service staff who travel overseas is however small. Visits are predominantly to European Union and former eastern block countries in connection with employment and training developments. The cost of some Employment Service visit is met from the know-how fund, the United Kingdom's programme of bilateral assistance to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Employment services are among the priorities in these countries.