§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much has been spent on consultants for operational strategy in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. ScottThe cost of consultancy services for the operational strategy over the five years ending 1992–93 was £191 million. Figures for 1993–94 are not yet available. Individual years' figures are in the table.
£ million 1988–89 40.6 1989–90 31.2 1990–91 49.6 1991–92 37.5 1992–93 32.1
§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the current estimated total cost of operational strategy to 1998, in real terms; by how much this figure exceeds the initial estimated cost; and what percentage of the estimated cost is the cost of outside consultants.
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§ Mr. ScottThe most recent—1993—estimated total cost in real terms of the operational strategy to 1998–99 is £2.6 billion, which includes an estimated £315 million—11.9 per cent.—for consultancy services.
The total cost of the operational strategy was originally—1982—estimated at £713 million. The current estimated cost exceeds the initial estimate by £1.9 billion. The original specification did not embrace the substantial cost of subsequent changes in social security legislation, notably the 1988 social security reforms. Estimates of total savings over the period of the operational strategy have also been revised from an initial estimate of some £1.9 billion—1982—to £3.3 billion—1993.