§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the estimated spending on outside consultancy contracts by his Department's research and development establishments in the current year; whether this estimated spending includes any consultancy advice on computer systems; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe estimated expenditure on separately identifiable outside consultancy contracts by the MOD research establishments in 1986–87 is £1,487,000. This figure includes £368,000 of expenditure on advice on computer systems.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the spending on outside consultancy contracts by his Department's research and development establishments in each year since 1979; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe expenditure since 1979 on separately identifiable consultancy contracts by the MOD research establishments is:
Year £ 1979–80 60,000 1980–81 62,000 1981–82 60,000 1982–83 583,000 1983–84 1,563,000 1984–85 1,159,000 1985–86 1,271,000 1986–87 1,487,000