To ask the Secretary of State for Wales

(1) which recruitment consultants his Department used to select candidates for public appointments within his departmental remit in each year for which figures are available since 2007; and how much was paid in fees to each such company in each year since 2007;

(2) how many public appointments (a) regulated by and (b) not regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments have been made by his Department since 2007; and in how many such cases the services of recruitment consultants were retained;

(3) when his Department last assessed the (a) utility and (b) value of psychometric testing in its recruitment and selection of candidates for public appointments on advisory boards;

(4) what his Department's policy is on the payment of travel expenses to candidates in respect of their attendance at assessment centres and interviews when pursuing applications for selection to a public appointment.

The Wales Office does not make public appointments.