Consultants (Hansard, 24 February 1993)

§ Ms. Mowlam
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many contracts for consultancies were awarded by his Department over(a) the last 12 months and (b) 1991–92.

§ Mr. Aitken
In the 12 months from 1 February 1992 to 31 January 1993, my Department placed at least 582 contracts which involved some form of consultancy; the exact figure may be a little higher, since contracts placed towards the end of January have not been recorded centrally. The exact figure for 1991–92 was 563.
These figures include various forms of technical consultancy, as well as management consultancy; it is not possible to differentiate them from the figures available.

§ Ms. Mowlam
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the contracts awarded by his Department to(a) Coopers and Lybrand management consultants, (b) Touche Ross management consultants, (c) Price Waterhouse management consultants, (d) Ernst and Young management consultants, (e) Chrichton Roberts Ltd., (f) KPMG management consultants and (g) 648W Leopold Joseph management consultants, with the total cost of the contracts with each contractor for (i) the past 12 months and (ii) 1991–92.

§ Mr. Aitken
My Department has no record of any contracts having been placed with Chrichton Roberts Ltd. or Leopold Joseph Management Consultants Ltd. The number and value of contracts placed with the other five companies is as follows. Contracts placed in February/ March 1992 will, of course, appear in both columns:

February 1992/January 1993¹ 1991/1992

Coopers and Lybrand² 12 contracts £8,740,330 12 contracts £4,624,622

Touche Ross Management Consultants 11 contracts £1,412,831 13 contracts £802,305

Price Waterhouse² 9 contracts £1,136,039 8 contracts £471,122

Ernst and Young Management Consultants 4 contracts £335,300 5 contracts £559,653

KPMG Management Consulting 1 contract³ Nil

¹ May be subject to revision, as contracts placed towards the end of January may not yet have been recorded centrally.

² Available statistics do not indentify "Management Consultants" separately from other parts of these firms. Consequently some of these contracts may be for services other than management consultancy.

³ This is the contract mentioned in my answer to the hon. Lady on 25 January 1993 (Official Report, Column 560). As it is our practice to treat values of individual contracts as "Commercial in Confidence", I am not able to reveal the value of this contract.

It is not possible to list the subject of each and every one of these contracts without disproportionate effort.

	February 1992/January 1993¹	1991/1992
Coopers and Lybrand²	12 contracts £8,740,330	12 contracts £4,624,622
Touche Ross Management Consultants	11 contracts £1,412,831	13 contracts £802,305
Price Waterhouse²	9 contracts £1,136,039	8 contracts £471,122
Ernst and Young Management Consultants	4 contracts £335,300	5 contracts £559,653
KPMG Management Consulting	1 contract³	Nil
¹ May be subject to revision, as contracts placed towards the end of January may not yet have been recorded centrally.
² Available statistics do not indentify "Management Consultants" separately from other parts of these firms. Consequently some of these contracts may be for services other than management consultancy.
³ This is the contract mentioned in my answer to the hon. Lady on 25 January 1993 (Official Report, Column 560). As it is our practice to treat values of individual contracts as "Commercial in Confidence", I am not able to reveal the value of this contract.