Management Consultants

Mr. Simon Hughes
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are his estimates of the expenditure on all external consultants, including management consultants, for each year since 1992, in 1997 prices, for his Department and its agencies; and what estimate he has made of the quantified annual cost savings achieved by this. [10412]

Ms Jowell
Estimates for expenditure on all external consultants for the Department of Health and its agencies, in 1997 prices, are as follows:----------
|Year    |
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|1992–93 |
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|1993–94 |
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|1994–95 |
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|1995–96 |
----------
|1996–971|
----------

The Department does not hold information centrally on savings which are a direct consequence of external consultants' activity.