HC Deb 02 February 2004 vol 417 cc658-9W
Mr. Flight

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost to his Department of using management consultants has been in each of the last five years. [148019]

Mr. Stephen Twigg

The following table shows the expenditure in the last five financial years on management consultancy in the Department for Education and Skills and its predecessor, the Department for Education and Employment, (including the Sure Start Unit and the then Children and Young People's Unit).

Expenditure on management consultancy
£ million
1998–99 5.0
1999–2000 3.7
2000–01 4.3
2001–02 5.0
2002–03 4.0

These figures are for consultancy falling within the Department's administrative cost limit and exclude programme consultancy costs, which are currently not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.