The number of consultants engaged centrally by DFID in each of the last five years is shown in the following table. This includes both self-employed individuals and contracts with companies under which significant numbers of people are utilised.
Financial year Number of consultants 2002-03 407 2003-04 349 2004-05 310 2005-06 336 2006-07 273
The majority of consultants are engaged by DFID on behalf of development partners to help them deliver long-term development projects to help reduce poverty. Overall comparison between the number of individual consultants allocated to DFID's work for limited periods of time and DFID's overall staffing complement could not be established without incurring disproportionate cost.