HC Deb 13 July 1995 vol 263 cc746-8W
Mr. Milburn

To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will estimate the cost of employing consultants in connection with privatisation programmes in which his Department has been engaged since 1980. [33457]

Mr. Lang

I refer the hon. Member to the replies given by my right hon. Friend the First Secretary of State to his questions last year on 5 May 1994 and 16 June 1994,Official Report, column 604 and columns 428–29. The Comptroller and Auditor General has not published any additional reports on privatisations undertaken by the DTI since then.

Mr. Milburn

To ask the President of the Board of Trade which firms of consultants employed by his Department over the last year have been paid more than £1,000 per day. [33880]

Mr. Lang

[holding answer 12 July 1995]: The information is not collected and cannot be provided except at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Milburn

To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much his Department and its agencies have spent on computer consultancy in each of the last five years; and what is the expected expenditure over the next five years. [33861]

Mr. Lang

[holding answer 12 July 1995]: Figures prior to 1992–93 are not readily available and cannot be provided other than at disproportionate cost. Due to the devolvement of budgets for computer consultancy, the following figures represent only the expenditure made through the central IT procurement section.

Year Thousand
1992–93 6,212
1993–94 4,671
1994–95 4,137

It is not possible to provide expected expenditure over the next five years other than at disproportionate cost due to budget devolvement. Information available on forecast expenditure by the central computer section on consultancy support for corporate projects over the next three years is as follows—estimates are not available for the final two years:

Year £ thousand
1995–96 1,181
1996–97 861
1997–98 824

Mr. Milburn

To ask the President of the Board of Trade which firms have won computer consultancy contracts from his Department and its agencies over the last five years; and what is the number of contracts per firm. [33892]

Mr. Lang

[holding answer 12 July 1995]: This information is not held centrally and it cannot be provided other than at disproportionate cost. However, following an open tender procurement, the Department has set up framework agreements with the following companies enabling the Department's management units and agencies to call off computer consultancy support as required.

  • Admiral Management Services Ltd.
  • ASE Consulting
  • CMG Computer Management Group (UK) Ltd
    • 748
  • Coopers and Lybrand
  • Cray Systems Ltd.
  • CSS Trident Ltd.
  • CSC Computer Sciences Ltd.
  • EFD Total System Consultants Ltd.
  • Kermon Ltd.
  • KPMG Management Consulting
  • Logica UK Ltd.
  • PA Consulting Group
  • Parity Systems Ltd.
  • SEMA Group Systems Ltd.
  • Secure Information Systems Ltd.
  • Touche Ross and Co.
  • Triad Special Systems Ltd.

The agreements were finalised in August 1994 and cover a period of up to five years.