§ Mr. CollinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list each consultation that his Department has held in each year since 1997; and what the cost was of these consultations. [167559]
§ Mr. Stephen TwiggA list of the initiatives my Department has consulted on can be found at www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/
It is not possible to provide the cost of consultations undertaken since 1997 as the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was established after the general election in 2001. Prior to this date the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) conducted consultations dating back to 1997. The DfEE operated under different accounting standards to the DfES, making it difficult to provide a consistent cost breakdown for the period in question. In 2001 and 2002 Cabinet Office's monitoring of compliance with the Code of Practice on Consultation included the cost of consultation exercises. The total cost of DfES consultation exercises identified was £514,921.04 in 2001 and £2,508,687.60 in 2002.