To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his Department's annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis; and how much of this budget was used in each of the last five years for which records are available. (103137)

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is unable to provide all of the information requested by the hon. Member in relation to consultancy budgets and expenditure. Due to the NIO's current financial system we are only able to provide budget information for the previous and current financial years, i.e. 2005-06 and 2006-07. Budget information for previous years would have to be gathered manually and would be at disproportionate cost. The following table represents the information held on budgets and expenditure for consultancy costs for the NIO, excluding its agencies and NDPBs.