Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Department for Business and Trade workforce management information return for March 2026, for what reason the Department recorded consultancy spend of -£20,783,968.13; whether this figure reflects an accounting adjustment, correction, reclassification, refund or data error; and what the Department’s gross consultancy spend was in March 2026 before that negative adjustment was applied.

In March 2026 an adjustment was made to correctly reclassify £14.9m of 2025-26 costs from consultancy to professional services. In addition, there was a correction of a purchase order receipt which had incorrectly recorded £9.5m of consultancy costs in February 2026. These had the effect of artificially lowering the March 2026 consultancy costs. The underlying consultancy costs for March 2026 were £3,674,344.13.