§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total external spending by her Department was on public-private partnership consultants in each of the last four years; how many full-time equivalent consultants were employed over this period; how many billed consultancy days there were per year; what the implied average cost of each PPP consultant was; how many consultancy firms were used by her Department over this period; and if she will make a statement. [43201]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 1 February 2002,Official Report, column 634W. The only Private Finance Initiative with which my Department is involved is a Public Private Partnership to deliver the Connexions Card. Therefore the same figures apply. In addition, since 25 January, my Department has spent an additional £56,183.03 on public private partnership consultants. This equates to one full-time equivalent, and consisted of 49 billed consultancy days, at an average cost per consultant of £1,146.59. We have again used four consultancy firms.