To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 13 October 2008, Official Report, column 1113W, on departmental consultants, what estimate his Department makes for planning purposes of the average costs of undertaking a public consultation. (228701)

The majority of the Department’s formal consultations are undertaken in-house by the Central Consultation Unit—the costs for which are given in my response to the hon. Lady’s pursuant question on departmental publications. Any costs beyond this are normally met by the policy area commissioning the consultation; these are not recorded centrally and could be calculated only at disproportionate cost.