§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 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. [26579]
§ Mr. Kilfoyle[holding answer 5 February 1998]: For this answer my Department includes the Prime Minister's Office and the Central Office of Information.
My Department's agencies' and NDPBs' expenditure in (i) 1995–96; (ii) 1996–97; (iii) 1997–98 to date and (iv) 1997–98 full year (estimated outturn) is set out.
£ Cabinet Office OPS agencies COI NDPBs 1995–96 1,517,630 3,297,291 146,574 0 1996–97 3,916,258 683,742 108,290 0 1997–98 to date 835,207 293,709 52,582 0 1997–98 full year (estimate) 1,182,000 354,000 53,000 0 Consultants are not primarily used to achieve cost savings. The Department uses external consultants to assist in the improvement of its operational efficiency and effectiveness, for example by better use of Information Technology, and they are also used to improve the delivery of Government policy programmes by drawing consultants' expertise.