§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development how many(a) special advisers, (b) press officers, (c) civil servants, (d) advisers to civil servants and (e) permanent staff were working for the Department in each year since 1996. [126478]
§ Hilary Benn(a) DFID has employed two special advisers since 1997. We do not recognise the terrn advisers to civil servants; (b) The number of Press Officers is:
Year Number of Press Officers 1996–97 6 1997–98 6 1998 4 1999–2000 3.3 2000–01 4.5 2001–02 4 2002–03 5 (c) The number of Civil Servants (permanent staff) can be found in the annual publication Civil Service Statistics. Copies of the publication are laid in the 873W Libraries of both Houses. The latest edition, based on April 2002 data, was published on 24 July 2003; these figures include press officers.