Palace Of Westminster: Line Of Route Project

Lord Dixon

asked the Chairman of Committees:Further to his Written Answer on 22 June (

WA 55) relating to the line of route project:

(a) how much of the £123,649.23 expended on this project is non-recoverable;

(b) what is the breakdown of the expenditure to date;

(c) whether the total expenditure of both Houses of £123,649.23 has been paid for by underspend on security or only the House of Lords contribution of £49,441.69;

(d) whether the consultants who carried out this survey were appointed after an advertisement;

(e) how many consultants applied to carry out this survey; and

(f) who decided on the successful consultant. [HL3432]

The answers to these questions are as follows:

(a) £105,000 of the expenditure is non-recoverable. Approximately £17,750 is recoverable in respect of the value added tax paid on this contracted-out service;

(b) Approximately £4,500 of the £123,649.23 has been spent on consultants' out of pocket expenses; the rest has been spent on consultants' fees;

(c) Only the House of Lords contribution of £49,441.69 was paid for by underspend on security;

(d) and (e) No advertisement was published. The Serjeant at Arms' Department in the House of Commons solicited contractors' names from the Historic Royal Palaces Agency and invited tenders. Two firms responded with detailed submissions;

(f) The Serjeant at Arms and the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod chose the successful applicant.

Volume 604: debated on Tuesday 13 July 1999