§ Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total external spend by his Department was on Private Finance Initiative consultants in each of the last four years; how many full-time equivalent consultants were employed over this period; how many billed consultancy days there were per year; what the implied average cost of each PFI consultant was; 454W how many consultancy firms were used by his Department over this period; and if he will make a statement. [31046]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyThe information requested is not available in the format requested. To provide the hon. Member with a full answer will incur disproportionate cost. I can however provide information detailing total spend on Private Finance Initiative consultants in each of the last four years and also the number of consultancy firms used by my Department over this period. The aforementioned information is as follows:
Total spend on private finance initiative (PFI) consultants £ 1998 103,563 1999 89,473 2000 2,926,936 2001 7,372,187
Number of consultancy firms used by the Home Department on PFI projects Number 1998 1 1999 2 2000 4 2001 5 The increase in expenditure is largely due to two projects, firstly the setting up of the Criminal Records Bureau and secondly various business change services relating to the Immigration and Nationality Department's Casework Programme to enable the improvement of case management.