External Consultants

Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the projects with a value in excess of £30,000 carried out by his Department using external consultants in the current financial year. [96697]

Mr. Lammy
[holding answer 11 February 2003]: Responsibility for procurement within the Department is devolved to individual business units operating within central guidance. Information is not held centrally on a project by project basis but a trawl of the Department, excluding agencies, at local business unit level has identified 10 projects in the current financial year with an expenditure to date on consultants in excess of £30,000: Business process re-engineering/Departmental of Health finance systemDepartment of Health performance managementEnsuring efficient deliveryFinancial flows projectBenchmarking programmeMental health minimum datasetInfrastructure management services programmeEstablishment of the NHS franchising register of expertiseUtilisation—based small area study of need for healthcare in EnglandShifting the balance of power.