§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many contracts and for what total sum were let out by his Department and agencies for which it is responsible to(a) Coopers and Lybrand, (b) KPMG Peat Marwick, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) Price Waterhouse, (e) Arthur Andersen, (f) Touche Ross, (g) Grant Thornton, (h) Robson Rhodes and (i) Pannell Kerr Forster for (i) privatisation, (ii) market testing, (iii) management advice, (iv) accounting, (v) audit, (vi) consultancy and (vii) other services in (1) 1980 to 1983, (2) 1984 to 1987, (3) 1998 to 1991 and (4) 1992–93.
Mr. John M. TaylorThe information that the Department has about these types of contract relates only to 1992–93 and is not broken down in a way which allows the question to be answered in the detail sought. However, on the best information currently available, total expenditure on external consultants during that year was £3.455 million. For projects costing less than £20,000 no detailed information is readily available, but for those above that amount which were completed in that year, the details are as follows:
Consultants Number of contracts amount £000's Coopers & Lybrand 2 57 KPMG 2 115 Ernst & Young 2 52 Price Waterhouse 6 1,396