HC Deb 01 March 2002 vol 380 cc1579-80W
Annabelle Ewing

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will publish the(a) number and (b) value of contracts awarded by her Department to (i) Arthur Andersen, (ii) Deloitte Touche, (iii) Ernst and Young, (iv) KPMG and (v) PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants in each year since 1997. [34993]

Ms Hewitt

Information from the Department's systems indicate that contracts let by core DTI to PWC Consulting or PricewaterhouseCoopers are as follows:

PricewaterhouseCoopers No. Contracts Total Value £
01 April 1999–31 March 2000 9 354,657
01 April 2000–31 March 2001 16 636,623
01 April 2001–04 January 2002 13 870,199

Contracts let by core DTI to Ernst & Young are as follows:

Ernst & Young No. Contracts Total Value £
01 April 1999–31 March 2000 3 407,165
01 April 2000–31 March 2001 58 829,043
01 April 2001–04 January 2002 10 879,679

Contracts let by core DTI to Deloitte & Touche are as follows:

Deloitte & Touche No. Contracts Total Value £
01 April 1999–31 March 2000 6 1,265,252
01 April 2000–31 March 2001 6 1,839,428
01 April 2001–04 January 2002 4 4,489,189

Contracts let by core DTI to KPMG are as follows:

KPMG No. Contracts Total Value £
01 April 1999–31 March 2000 1 11,642
01 April 2000–31 March 2001 4 30,009
01 April 2001–04 January 2002 3 92,131

Information is not held centrally for the earlier years and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

For contracts let to Andersen I would refer to the answer given to the hon. Member for East Carmarthen and Dinefwr (Adam Price) on 14 January 2002, Official Report, column 41W, where exceptionally information was given for earlier years.

The Department's Executive Agencies will be responding separately.