To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department and its agencies spent on commissioning research or consultancy from Be-Environmental in the last three years; and for what purposes. (142379)

DEFRA and its agencies have spent £242,949 on commissioning research or consultancy from Be-Environmental since the beginning of the 2004-05 financial year. This was for work in the waste sector including: support to local authorities to improve their waste management services; research; performance reviews of DEFRA programmes and projects; the planning and facilitation of events and focus groups to improve DEFRA programmes; website development; and support to DEFRA's Waste and Resources Research and Development Strategy.