Consultancy Fees (Hansard, 20 June 1991)

§ Mr. Meacher
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the total fee paid by his Department(a) to Arthur Andersen Consulting and (b) all other consultants in the last financial year for which figures are available; what was the charging basis on which (a) and (b) were paid; and what was the number of hours worked by consultants for (a) and (b).

§ Mr. Jack
[holding answer 13 June 1991]: In the financial year 1990–91, the total fees paid for management and computer consultancy, including VAT and expenses amounted to £69.75 million. Approximately 90 per cent. of the fees were based on the number of hours or days worked. Most of the remaining 10 per cent. of fees were attibutable to fixed price contracts. The total number of hours worked by consultants could be obtained only at disproportionate cost as such information is not collected centrally. Separate information has not been given for Andersen Consulting as to do so could constitute a breach of commercial confidentiality, and perhaps harm the competitive process for contracts thus making it more difficult to secure value for money.

§ Mr. Meacher
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security of total fees paid in the last financial year for which figures are available what proportion of them were accounted for by work subject to(a) open tender, (b) closed tender and (c) non-tender.

§ Mr. Jack
[holding answer 13 June 1991]: The proportion of fees paid to management and computer consultants in the financial year 1990–91 as the result of a competitive tender, for which a number of firms are invited to bid, was 25 per cent. The remainder of the fees represented work contracted following single tendering. In all cases of single tender, a tender is received and
278W

¹ Joint DH and DSS Investment.

² DSS alone.

The following table shows the Department's energy consumption in both cash and 1990–91 money terms for each year from 1985–86 together with the square footage of accommodation to which these figures relate. Information is only available for DH/DSS jointly for the period 1985–86 to 1988–89 but for 1989–90 figures relate to the DSS.
evaluated. In making the decision as to which firm is to be invited to tender, extensive use is made of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency index of computer consultants and the Treasury index of management consultants. The information from these two indexes is supplemented by information gathered directly as a result of the Department's own use of consultants.