HC Deb 13 November 2001 vol 374 cc607-8W
Mr. Gardiner

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Government have spent on private consultancy since 1997; and what review of such expenditure has been conducted to assess its value for money. [13907]

Mr. Andrew Smith

The information requested is not held centrally.

The National Audit Office published a report in April 2001 (HC 400 Session 2000–01) entitled "Purchasing Professional Services". This set out the results of their examination of Departments' expenditure on professional services including consultancy.

Individual Departments are responsible for ensuring that their expenditure on consultancy represents value for money.