§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total cost to his Department was for accountancy services in 2002–03. [109491]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyIn 2002–03, the Northern Ireland Office (including its Agencies but excluding NDPBs as we do not have a breakdown of their expenditure) spent an estimated £213,775 on accountancy services.
Much of this figure relates to implementing Resource Accounting and Budgeting, and installing a new Financial Information System. It was necessary for the Department to employ external consultants for these projects, as the required expertise and resources were not available in-house to introduce them.
The estimated total cost of accountancy services in the Northern Ireland administration is £1,575,034. The figure is estimated, as final invoices have not been received in all cases.