§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what estimates she has made of the amount spent on external consultants by her Department's non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years. [10158]
§ Mr. Sproat[holding answer 13 January 1997]: No such estimates have been made. However, the available information provided by my Department's non-departmental public bodies is given in the following table:
Financial year Expenditure in £ million 1991–92 9.2 1992–93 9.2 1993–94 11.4 1994–95 12.5 1995–96 16.0
Year ending September 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Discontinued 187.399 185.824 159.085 158.594 153.468 Percentage of completed cases 12.8 13.4 11.9 11.9 12 Written off 84.379 103.323 119.598 133.303 110.454 Percentage of completed cases 5.8 7.4 8.9 10 8.6 A case "written off' is not thereby terminated. The majority occur when defendants cannot be traced by the police or a warrant for arrest remains unexecuted. Such cases can recommence if and when the defendant can be traced.