Written question asked by Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party) on Wednesday, 9 March 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 14 March 2011. It was answered by Lord Robathan (Conservative) on Tuesday, 22 March 2011 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Departmental Ministerial Special Advisers

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on (a) salaries and (b) pension entitlements for special advisers in the financial year 2010-11 to date.

Answer: Special adviser numbers and pay bands were released by the Cabinet Office; the information is available at:"http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/special-adviser-data-releases"The website lists the names of the special advisers in post in each Department and details each special adviser's pay band, actual salary where it is £58,200 or higher, together with details of special advisers' pay ranges for 2010-11. It also shows the total pay bill cost of special advisers for the period up to 31 March 2011. The estimated pay bill includes pension costs, and details of pension arrangements are set out in the ““Model contract for Special Advisers””, available at the same link.

Secondary information