§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what are his latest estimates of the expenditure on all external consultants, including management consultants, for each year since 1987, in 1994 prices, for his Department and its agencies; and what are the quantified annual cost savings which such expenditure has resulted in.
§ Mr. Dorrell[holding answer 9 February 1995]My Department was established in April 1992 and took on responsibility for funding its own consultancies in August 1992. For the two financial years for which figures are available, my Department's expenditure is as follows.
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Year Expenditure £ In 1994 prices £ 1992–93 2,850,277 2,995,884 1993–94 6,003,555 6,123,666 My Department uses consultants for a wide variety of tasks, only a small proportion of which are aimed at achieving cost savings. No central record is held on overall savings and it would not be possible to isolate those consultancies and quantify the cost savings without incurring disproportionate cost.