Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many consultants his Department has hired since 2016; and what the cost of that hiring was to the public purse.

The Department does not hold information on the number of consultants hired in any one year as this work is often commissioned as part of an outcomes based contract to ensure value for money.

The amount spent on consultants each year since 2016 is:

2016-17 - £63.0 million of which £41.4 million was related to Site Licence Companies

2017-18 - £50.4 million of which £37.3 million was related to Site Licence Companies.

Site Licence Companies manage and operate the nuclear facilities at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) sites.