§ Mr. AncramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much the Foreign Office spent on(a) recruitment consultants and (b) management consultants in (i) 1996–97 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available. [184503]
§ Mr. StrawThe figures for 1996–97 could be established only at disproportionate costs.
339WExpenditure 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 provided only at disproportionate costs.
Expenditure on consultants, the bulk of this being expenditure associated with our major Information and Communications Technology and estate construction programmes, for 2002–03 (the latest figures available) totalled £23.7 million. Out of that total the FCO spent £1.31 million on recruitment consultants.