asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many consultants have been retained by his Department in each of the past five years; and what was the annual cost.

The cost of consultants retained by the Department, including PSA, has been as follows:

	£ million
1980–81	45·2
1981–82	54·0
1982–83	63·4
1983–84	83·4
1984–85	128·7

These figures are in cash terms.The number of consultants employed in each year is not available. The increasing figures since 1982–83 reflect in part the policy of contracting out more design services by the PSA.