Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of the use of private consultants by his Department in the last 12 months.

The department publishes expenditure on consultants in the annual report and accounts. The most recently published period is 2022-23 when the core department spent £23.7 million (page 108).