HC Deb 14 July 1995 vol 263 cc853-6W
Mr. Milburn

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will indicate which five consultancy firms have received most contracts from his Department(a) by number of contracts and (b) monetary value in the last five years for which figures are available. [33445]

Mr. Boswell

Centralised records are not kept of the numbers of individual contractors between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and consultants, and I am unable to give a definitive reply at this time. However, the information is being collated, and I will write to the hon. Member as soon as it is available.

Mr. Milburn

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the cost of employing consultants in connection with privatisation programmes in which his Department has been engaged since 1980. [33465]

Mr. Boswell

Since 1980 the core Department has spent £159,000 on consultants in connection with privatisation programmes. In addition, studies into the privatisation of the Covent Garden Market authority were undertaken by consultants at a total cost of approximately £41,000.

During the three years since its establishment as a MAFF agency a total of £142,000 has been spent by ADAS on consultancy projects in connection with privatisation.

Mr. Milburn

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 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. [33863]

Mr. Boswell

[holding answer 12 July 1995]: Expenditure on computer consultancy over the past five years is:

£ million
Year Expenditure
1990–91 4.4
1991–92 4
1992–93 5.2
1993–94 8.3
1994–95 5.4

The estimated expenditure in 1995–96 is around £6 million. Expenditure in the following four years is expected to be in the range of £3.5 million annually, depending upon the requirements, assessment of priorities and PES settlements.

Mr. Milburn

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which firms won computer consultancy contracts from his Department and its agencies over the last five years: and what is the number of contracts per firm. [33894]

Mr. Boswell

[holding answer 12 July 1995]: The details requested are as follows:

Consultants Number of contracts
ACT Logsys 1
ACT Business Systems 1
Admiral 3
AIMS Systems 1
Aimtech Europe 1
Ampersand 5
AMP Systems 1
AMTEC 4
Applied Information Systems 1
Arena 1
ASK Group 2
Aslib Consultancy 1
Asterisk Systems 6
Benson Networks 1
BIS 1
Brandt Computers 1
Bristol University 1
Brook Systems 1
Consultants Number of contracts
Keith Butterfield Associates 1
Cambridge Ergonomics 1
CAPITA 1
CCT 6
Chris Cole Associates 1
Coopers and Lybrand 1
Corporate Computers 1
Cray Systems 1
CSS Trident 2
Digital Equipment Corporation 1
D M Shaw Associates 3
DPP International 1
Duhig Berry 1
Electronic Facilities Design 3
Eosys 1
Ernst and Young 2
Exclusive Software 2
Exeter University 1
FI Group 4
Forvus Ltd 1
Foxware 3
Gateway Systems 1
Grafton 1
R. T. Grandy Associates 1
Harwell Computers 1
Hayes-Davies 1
Hay Management 1
Haynes Associates 1
Hoskyns 3
Hunterskill 1
IBM 1
Independent Training Solutions 1
Inference Ltd 1
Infocus 1
Infologistix 1
Ingres 1
Insight Consultancy 1
ISM Consultants 1
Intergraph 1
Intersect 1
International Software 1
John Guest Ltd. 1
Kermon Associates 2
LBMS 3
Logica 2
Mansell Associates 1
Megaware Consultants 1
MSB International 1
Metron 1
Midsummer Computing 1
MMT Ltd. 6
Mouncey and Partners 10
MSB International 2
MSG Business Systems 1
Neville Clarke 1
OFICE 1
Oracle 6
PA Consulting 12
PACTUM Ltd. 1
Perspective 1
Premier Computing 1
Price Waterhouse 3
Prime Computer Systems 1
Projects Group 1
Quanta Learning Systems 3
Reading University 1
Reed Personnel 1
Ricardo Ltd. 1
SAC Ltd. 1
Sapphire Ltd. 1
SEMA Group 19
Sequent Computer Systems 2
Sequelogic 1
Sherwoods Ltd. 9

Consultants Number of contracts
Shreeveport Ltd. 1
Siemens Nixdorf 4
Software Innovations 1
Software Support 1
Soft Toolrack 1
South-West Health Authority 1
Softbridge Support Services 1
Softlab 1
Span Group 3
STATUS IQ 2
Syntech 2
Surrey Training and Enterprise 1
Council
Touche Ross 11
TMS Computer Authors 1
Triad Ltd. 15
Unidata 1
Zergo Ltd. 1

Mr. Milburn

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which firms of consultants employed by his Department over the last year have been paid more than £1,000 per day. [33870]

Mr. Boswell

[holding answer 12 July 1995]: During the past year, the following consultants have been employed by my Department at an agreed daily rate of £1,000 or more:

  • Charterhouse Bank
  • Oxford Communications Group
  • Price Waterhouse
  • Mrs. J. Olsen
  • KPMG Peat Marwick
  • Ernst and Young