Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the total cost to the public purse of spending on consultancy by Departments in each year from 2019 to 2022.

Data on the cost of consultancy spend across government is not centrally held and is held by each department. There is a legitimate case for consultancy spend in certain circumstances, where it represents value for taxpayer money.

Each department will publish their total consultancy spend as part of their own Annual Reports and Accounts which are available on Gov.uk.