§ Mr. FatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will(a) list those consultancy contracts awarded by his Department in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 and (b) the purpose of each individual contract.
§ Mr. FreemanThe Department's central contracts branch has placed in excess of 500 contracts with consultants in each of the last few years. In addition to this figure, consultancy contracts are placed as part of specific projects and as low value orders of under £10,000. Under the Department's arrangements for the delegation of contractual authority, such contracts are placed without reference to the central contracts branch and so cannot be identified separately.
In view of this and the large number of centrally placed contracts involved over the last 15 years, an answer to 573W this question could be provided only at disproportionate cost and effort.