§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost to his Department of using management consultants has been in each of the last five years. [148023]
§ Mr. RammellExpenditure on external consultants in general is reported annually in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) Departmental Report, available in the Library of the House and on the FCO's website: www.fco.gov.uk. Expenditure specifically on management consultants is not categorised separately and could be established only at disproportionate cost.
968WExpenditure on external consultants for the last five years has been:
£ million 1997–98 15.8 1998–99 14.5 1999–2000 14 2000–01 17.9 2001–02 20.1 Expenditure for 2002–03 is not yet available, but will be included in the next Departmental Report due to be published in spring 2004.
The vast majority of our expenditure on external consultants is associated with our major Information Communications Technology (ICT) and Estate Construction programmes. Consultants also advise on legal, financial and personnel issues and provide support in areas where we have skills shortages. Increasing expenditure over recent years is largely associated with the growth of our ICT programme which is being used to support change in the organisation.