§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many contracts his Department has with consultants; what level of professional indemnity insurance is standard in contracts with small consultants; whether he can make exceptions to the level of professional indemnity insurance; and what recent discussions he has had with other Government Departments about the level of professional indemnity insurance. [50833]
§ Mr. MacShane[holding answer 18 April 2002]: Information on the number of contracts with consultants could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Decisions regarding the appropriate level of professional indemnity insurance are taken on a case-by-case basis. A common indemnity insurance limit for small consultancy work is £500,000. As with previous Administrations under exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of discussions which form part of the process of policy development and analysis.