Hansard

External Consultancies

Volume 398: debated on Wednesday 29 January 2003

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Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much (a) his Department and (b) each agency and non-departmental public body spent on external consultancy in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03 (planned); and if he will make a statement. [92232]

Hilary Benn

The information is not available in the format requested. Total expenditure figures on consultants by Non Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) for the period in question and also planned expenditure by core Home Office Directorates and its Agencies in 2002–03 is not held centrally. Total expenditure on external consultants in each year from 1995–96 to 2001–02 for the core Home Office and its Agencies.

£
Consultancy expenditure by the Home Department and Agencies
Expenditure
1995–9610,200,000
1996–9711,804,984
1997–987,627,016
1998–994,588,445
1999–200010,302,672
2000–0127,877,286
2001–0221,147,058
The increase in expenditure on consultancy in against them. financial years 2000–01 and 2001–02 is primarily due to
Principal asylum applicants removed from the UK1
199719981999200020012(p)January to September 20023(p)
Total number of principal asylum applicants removed47,1656,9907,6658,9809,2857,780
Of which:
Assisted voluntary returns programme5——50550980640
1Persons who had sought asylum at some stage, excluding dependants.
2Removal figures exclude 1,495 dependants of asylum seekers removed in the period April to December 2001, of which 230 left under the assisted voluntary returns programme; data on dependants removed have only been collected since April 2001.
3In the same period 1,825 dependants of principal asylum seekers departed, of which 185 left under the assisted voluntary returns programme.
4Including persons known to have departed "voluntarily" after enforcement action had been initiated against them.
5Persons leaving under the assisted voluntary returns programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration. May include some on-entry cases and some cases where enforcement action has been initiated.