§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what will be the spending of his Department on fees to outside consultants in the current year; and what it was in 1979–80 and each intervening year.
§ Mr. MacGregor[pursuant to his reply, 19 November 1986, c. 230]: The estimate of fees to be paid to outside consultants in the current year and amounts spent in each of the last two years is as follows:
£ thousand 1984–85 1,217 1985–86 2,041 1986–87 2,250 Comparable figures for the years 1979–80 to 1981–82 are not available because of machinery of Government changes and the figures for 1982–83 and 1983–84 could only be given at disproportionate cost. The figure for the current year is a forecast outturn.