§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many consultancies were commissioned by his Department in the last two years for which figures are available: and what the cost of those contracts was. [130892]
§ Fiona MactaggartThe available information held by the Home Office on the cost for the use of external consultants for the financial years 2000–01 and 2001–02 is given in the table.
Year Numner of Consultancies Commissioned Cost of contracts (£) 2000–01 Not known 27,877,286 2001–02 145 21,147,058 We do not hold data on the number of consultancy contracts awarded for 2000–01 and to obtain this date would result in disproportionate cost. Information on cost or number of commissions for 2002–03 is not yet available.
The increase in expenditure on consultancy in 2000–01 is primarily due to a major investment programme in the modernisation of the Home Office and in particular on IT related modernisation.