§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the senior officials who have left his Department since April 2000 to take up posts in the private sector, stating in each case the name, position previously held, date of leaving, and the company and position taken up. [82387]
§ Dr. MoonieUnder the Cabinet Office rules on the acceptance of outside appointments by Crown servants ("the Business Appointment Rules"), all Ministry of Defence non-industrial civilians and officers in the Armed Forces are required, within two years of leaving the Department, to apply for permission before taking up employment with an organisation connected with their official duties. Some of these applications are speculative and not all lead to external appointments being taken up. The rules require only senior officials whose applications are approved by the Prime Minister to confirm to their former department that they have taken up a new appointment on leaving the MOD. Details of such appointments are published in the annual reports of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, copies of which are available in the Library.