§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what information technology consultants his Department has employed, for what purpose and at what total cost for each of the last five years.
§ Mr. HagueThe Department has employed IT consultants and contractors over the past five years to assist the permanent civil service IT specialists to provide IT services to the DSS group, Northern Ireland Social Security Agency, the Employment Service and Department of Health. All aspects of IT are covered including business analysis, development, implementation and service delivery.
Details of these services, including expenditure for IT consultants and contractors, are in the table.
Year Number of consultants Number of contractors Cost £ 1988–89 1— 1— 47,730,354 1989–90 493 131 40,907,144 1990–91 553 293 78,094,010 1991–92 541 245 65,922,056 1992–93 334 552 92,179,112 1Not available.