§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is his estimate of the expenditure of his(a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies on external consultants in (i) 1995–96, (ii) 1996–97, (iii) 1997–98 to date and (iv) 1997–98 full year; and if he will also estimate the cost savings resulting from the employment of such consultants for each of the above years. [26654]
§ Angela EagleEstimated expenditure on external consultants1 since 1995–96 is as follows:
£ million 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 to date 1997–98 full year estimated DETR 70.52 17.52 9.48 13.41 Agencies 4.48 5.48 2.51 3.38 NDPBs 24.23 30.52 24.54 34.59 1The definition of external consultants is that used for the 1994 Efficiency Scrutiny on the use of external consultants. It is not possible to estimate the annual cost savings resulting from this expenditure, the vast majority of which was for specific programme deliverables.