§ Annabelle EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 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. [34997]
§ Dr. HowellsThe following contracts are those awarded over the stated time period:
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Date £ Deloitte Touche March 1999 227,000 KPMG March 1999 23,000 PricewaterhouseCoopers November 1999 67,000 PricewaterhouseCoopers March 2000 56,000 PricewaterhouseCoopers May 2001 22,000 PricewaterhouseCoopers July 2001 96,000 Deloitte Touche is one of five companies who have framework agreements with DCMS for consultancy support to Quinquennial Reviews of DCMS funded bodies. These are not contracts as such, as any review work would be competed between the five companies and lead to an individual contract. Use of the framework agreements resolves some contractual issues and simplifies the tendering process. To date Deloitte Touche have not won any of the competitively tendered contracts under their agreement. The work awarded to the companies has, in the majority of cases, been research or consultancy work rather than accountancy.