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Written question asked by Wayne David (Labour) on Tuesday, 4 December 2018, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 6 December 2018. It was answered by Stuart Andrew (Conservative) on Wednesday, 12 December 2018 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.


Defence Equipment & Support: Staff

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many vacant civilian staff full-time equivalent posts Defence Equipment and Support has backfilled with contractors or contingent labour in each of the last three years; and what the cost to the public purse was of those arrangements.

Answer

Contingent labour is only used for instances where Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) does not have the specialist skills it needs in-house, or for urgent requirements where normal recruitment activities would not fill the post in time with a civilian or military employee.

The cost and average number of contingent labour personnel used by DE&S in each of the last three financial years is shown in the table below.

Year

2017-18

2016-17

2015-16

Cost (£ million)

27.8

42.6

27.1

Average number (Full time equivalent)

254

358

292


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
198737
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Staff Vacancies Defence Equipment & Support
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk