To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether there has been any nugatory cost to (a) his Department and (b) its agencies arising from tendered procurement in circumstances where the tender process has been cancelled prior to the award of the contract in the last five years. (303712)

Any such nugatory cost incurred by the Department and its agencies is not information held centrally and, if extant, could be provided only at disproportionate cost.