To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many individuals were engaged by his Department from consultant firms to work on the European Regional Development Fund closure programme for English regions; and on what matters each is working. (308247)

My Department has engaged 13 individuals from consultancy firms to work on the closure of the 2000-06 programmes. Nine of them are setting up and implementing a Programme Management Office to oversee the work on closure. The nine individuals are employed by my Department on a part-time basis and their work is interchangeable, so they do not have individual tasks allocated to them. A further four individuals, qualified accountants and forensic accountants, are engaged by my Department through another consultancy firm, to advise on finance issues related to the closure process.