§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much his Department spent on external consultants arid advisers in each of the last four financial years. [97420]
§ Mr. Byers[holding answer 10 November 1999]: The value of contracts let centrally to external consultants and advisers for 1997–98 was £0.94 million and for 1998–99 was £0.64 million.
For information on contracts let centrally in 1995–96 and 1996–97, I refer to the answer given to the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) on 19 February 1998, Official Report, column 816.
The above information does not include contracts let by the Department's Executive Agencies, and I have asked the respective Chief Executives to reply separately to this question.
Letter from Julian Thompson to Mr. Don Foster, dated 11 November 1999:
I am replying to your Parliamentary question tabled 3 November 1999 regarding expenditure on external consultants and advisors in each of the last four financial years.Patent Office expenditure is:
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Financial year Expenditure £ 1995–96 138,000 1996–97 124,000 1997–98 39,000 1998–99 8,000 Letter from Desmond Flynn to Mr. Don Foster, dated 11 November 1999:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about external consultants by The Insolvency Service.The Insolvency Service Executive Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry has spent the following amounts on external consultants and advisors in the last four financial years:
Year £000 1995–96 502 1996–97 12 1997–98 Nil 1998–99 5 Letter from T. L. Lonsdale to Mr. Don Foster, dated 11 November 1999:
I have been asked to reply to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on external consultants and advisors. The information you require for Companies House is as follows:
Expenditure on external consultants/advisors Year £000 1995–96 130 1996–97 1,000 1997–98 1,300 1998–99 2,600 The major component in more recent years has been for IT contractors, substantially to secure Millennium readiness for IT systems.Letter from David Hendon to Mr. Don Foster, dated 11 November 1999:
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the Radiocommunications Agency to your Parliamentary Question about expenditure on external consultants and advisers.Agency expenditure (ex-VAT) in each of the last four Financial years is as follows
Financial year £ 1995–96 256,000 1996–97 761,768 1997–98 2,478,987 1998–99 2,602,017 Letter from Dr. Seton Bennett to Mr. Don Foster, dated 11 November 1999:
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory to your question about the amount spent on external consultants and advisors in each of the last four financial years.The spend on consultants and advisors in each of the last four financial years is as follows:
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Year Spend £ 1998–99 3,800.00 1997–98 0.00 1996–97 0.00 1995–96 68,862.87 Letter from Ian Jones to Mr. Don Foster, dated 11 November 1999:
You tabled a Parliamentary Question on 3 November to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry about expenditure on external consultants and advisors in each of the last four financial years. I have been asked to reply in respect of the Employment Tribunals Service (ETS) which is an executive agency of the DTI.The Service spent £3k on consultants in 1997–98 and £117k in 1998–99. Expenditure in years before 1997–98, when the Service was established as an agency, will be included in the figures given by the DTI. The increase in expenditure last year was largely a result of our use of IT consultants in developing a longer term IT strategy for the Service.