§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many staff were seconded from the private sector to his Department in(a) May 1997 to April 1998, (b) May 1998 to April 1999 and (c) May 1999 to the latest date for which figures are available, stating in each case the companies from which staff have been seconded. [109293]
§ Mr. RookerSecondments and attachments are part of the Interchange Initiative, which promotes the exchange of people and good practice between the Civil Service and other organisations. All sectors of the economy are involved: Voluntary, Education, Health, Public and Private. Interchange is a key component of the reform agenda. The Modernising Government White Paper committed us to increasing interchange, in particular by bringing in more people on secondment and sending more of our people out.
For the periods in question, three private sector staff are recorded as having been seconded to the Department. One was from the Guardian Media Group plc between September 1997 and December 1997, one from Sacker and Partners between October 1997 and February 1998, and the third from CSL Managed Services between August 1999 and February 2000. Other inward secondments of three months or more recorded centrally in the above periods were mainly from local government and other parts of the public sector outside the civil service.