§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Attorney-General what will be the spending of the Lord Chancellor's Department and his Department, respectively, on fees to outside consultants in the current year; and what it was in 1979–80 and each intervening year.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe estimated expenditure on consultants for the current financial year in the Lord Chancellor's Department is £450,000.
The expenditure for 1985–86 was £376,000. Details for earlier years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
My Department incurred no expenditure on consultants in the years to which the question relates, and the estimated spending for the current year is nil.