Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the maximum daily rate of pay is for consultants (a) directly employed by and (b) employed by contractors working for her Department.

We use private contractors to deliver aid where they can provide the best results and value for taxpayers' money, which is the sensible approach to take. In the past year alone, this has included building treatment centres to defeat Ebola in Sierra Leone, delivering life-saving aid to Syrian refugees, and providing shelter to people who have lost their homes in the Nepal earthquake. A recent Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) report noted that the rates paid by DFID were “highly competitive”. Individual companies set the rates for their contractors.