To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contracts his Department has with external consultants; what the total value, including all VAT and disbursements, of these contracts are for the current financial year; how long each contract lasts; and what the forecast total value is of each contract. (163814)

The Department does not collect information on contracts with external consultants in the format requested. To do so would attract disproportionate cost.

A new system will be introduced in April 2008 called SHOWA, which will be able to gather such information for the Department.