To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much consultants employed by his Department and its agencies have been paid (a) in total and (b) in reimbursable expenses in each of the last 10 years. (313990)

Specific information detailing spend on management consultancy has been routinely collected by the Department since April 2005. Information on management consultancy expenditure before April 2005 is not held by the Department.

Information is collected on total payments to management consultancy organisations and does not reflect the payment to individual employees. The figures from April 2005 until March 2009 are as follows:

Information on expenditure on reimbursable expenses is not collected centrally. It is the Department's preference to commission management consultancy based on fixed prices for entire pieces of work and to include expenses as part of this.

Where expenses are paid, the Department reimburses costs at the same rates and policies as for its own employees.