HC Deb 21 April 2004 vol 420 cc507-8W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) nature and (b) value was of all contracts, consultancies or other services placed with the accountancy firms (i) Deloitte & Touche, (ii) Ernst & Young, (iii) KPMG and (iv) PricewaterhouseCoopers since 2000–01 by the Department and its agencies. [166098]

Mr. Stephen Twigg

My Department does not hold a central record of the nature of individual agreements (be they contracts, consultancies or other services) nor of their value. However, our financial records show the following total payments made by the Department to(a) Deloitte and Touche, (b) Ernst and Young, (c) KPMG and (d) PricewaterhouseCoopers in financial years 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 to date (i.e. excluding any subsequent prior year adjustments).

£
Organisation 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 To date
Deloitte and Touche 275,594 201,670 249,007
Ernst and Young 0 38,449 0
KPMG 396,353 1,014,559 1,870,513
PricewaterhouseCoopers 5,349,686 3.847,542 3,803,767

Information about spend by the Department's Non Departmental Public Bodies could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.