To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was paid by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and its agencies to (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) KPMG, (c) Deloitte, (d) Ernst & Young, (e) Grant Thornton, (f) BDO Stoy Hayward, (g) Baker Tilly, (h) Smith & Williamson, (i) Tenon Group, (j) PKF, (k) McKinsey and Company, and (l) Accenture, in each of the past five years for which information is available; how they monitor contracts with those firms; and how the department reports (1) during, and (2) at the end of contracts, to Buying Solutions. [HL2083]

The Department for Children Schools and Families and its predecessor department paid £16.5 million to the above-mentioned firms over the past five years. The department does not hold the requested information for its associated bodies, as they are independent and are responsible for their own data.

Management and monitoring of contracts are undertaken by the individual business units supported by comprehensive contract management guidance available on the department's intranet. Information on how individual contracts are monitored is, therefore, held by the individual business unit and not collected or retained centrally. However, for central DCSF Management Consultancy Frameworks, which covered the period up to the end of March 2008, a feedback form was used to gather information on the performance of the organisation. This form was issued to individual business units at the end of each contract and requested feedback about the performance of the organisation. Organisations awarded DCSF Management Consultancy Frameworks from those listed were: (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) KPMG, (c) Deloitte, (j) PKF, and (l) Accenture.

Reporting to Buying Solutions during or at the end of a contract would be the responsibility of individual business units, although there is no formal requirement or process for such reporting. To gather this information would be at disproportionate cost.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was paid by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its agencies to (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) KPMG, (c) Deloitte, (d) Ernst & Young, (e) Grant Thornton, (f) BDO Stoy Hayward, (g) Baker Tilly, (h) Smith & Williamson, (i) Tenon Group, (j) PKF, (k) McKinsey and Company, and (l) Accenture, in each of the past five years for which information is available; how they monitor contracts with those firms; and how the department reports (1) during, and (2) at the end of, contracts to Buying Solutions. [HL2095]

The Department for Culture Media and Sport has made the following payments to these companies:

The agency Royal Parks has made the following payments to these companies:

*** Please note that Baker Tilly used to be subcontracted by NAO to do our year-end audit, but we were charged by NAO under notional charges. No moneys were paid by TRP direct to Baker Tilly.

All figures exclude VAT.

For the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, contracts with the organisations used are either managed by a contract manager or a project manager dependent on the nature of the work and its duration. End-of-contract reports are sent to the procurement team to establish that the work has been carried out to an expected level of delivery. For the agency Royal Parks, the contracts listed were short term and monitored through regular TRP/consultant meetings.

There are no reports made to Buying Solutions during or at the end of the contract unless there have been exception reports raised during the use of the supplier for either good or poor performance. The agency Royal Parks would report to Buying Solutions if it experienced problems with a contractor.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was paid by the Department for Health and its agencies to (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) KPMG, (c) Deloitte, (d) Ernst & Young, (e) Grant Thornton, (f) BDO Stoy Hayward, (g) Baker Tilly, (h) Smith and Williamson, (i) Tenon Group, (j) PKF, (k) McKinsey and Company, and (l) Accenture, in each of the past five years for which information is available; how they monitor contracts with those firms; and how the department reports (1) during, and (2) at the end of, contracts to Buying Solutions. [HL2099]

The information is shown in the following tables. In each case, the figures are full payments made to these companies for all services provided.

Source: Department of Health

Notes:

1. These figures include payments made by NHS Connecting for Health

Source: MHRA

Notes:

1. The MHRA figures for the period 2009-10 are from 1 April 2009 to 26 February 2010.

2. Additionally, the following sums of money were paid by MHRA to RSM Bentley Jenison before it merged with Tenon Group plc in December 2009:

Source: NHS PASA

Notes:

1. NHS PASA closed on 31 December 2009.

In answer to the second part of the Question, contracts are monitored in various ways to ensure delivery of the service and value for money. It is for each department to manage its contracts and the amount of time and intervention required depends on the complexity, risk and cost of the work to be undertaken, allied to the specific details contained in the contractual arrangements.

A number of staff will typically be involved, such as business owners, technical specialists and contract/commercial managers.

Buying Solutions has put in place a number of framework agreements for use by government departments and the wider public sector, and provides information to departments on their use. These agreements have standard terms and the relevant business area will monitor delivery of the requirement with support of contract managers as required. Reports on all contract activities are not issued as a matter of course to Buying Solutions.