§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many of the individuals appointed by his Department to public positions in the last year were first identified by the public appointments unit. [8546]
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton[holding answer 10 December 1996]: The Scottish Office maintains its own public appointments list and therefore makes limited use of names from the public appointments unit. The Scottish Office public appointments list is used as a source of names of suitably qualified candidates for consideration for a wide range of appointments made by my right hon. Friend. From time to time, the public appointments unit passes names to the Scottish Office for the public appointments list, and vice versa. No central records are kept of the sources of names of those who are appointed to public bodies.