Question

To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, how much the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has spent on external consultants in each of the last five years; and if he will publish a breakdown of the (a) amount paid to each consultancy contracted, (b) name of each consultancy contracted and (c) specific matters on which they were consulted.

Due to a change in IPSA’s financial systems, it is technically highly difficult for IPSA to provide the information in the detail requested for the previous five years. In its annual accounts, however, IPSA have presented annual expenditure on consultancy, including £55k for 2017-18 (Human Resources advice, reviews and surveys: £11,000, Information Technology projects: £37,000, and IPSA Online project: £7,000). For 2018-19, the figure was £315k (Human Resources advice, reviews and surveys: £18,000, Implementation of GDPR legislation: £40,000, Information Technology projects: £44,000, and IPSA Online project: £213,000). For 2019-20, the figure was £300k (Organisational improvements for the Chief Executive’s Office: £43,000, System maintenance and continuous improvement programme: £182,000, Organisational redesign by the HR department: £60,000, Business Support to MP Support and general professional advice: £15,000). For 2020-21, the figure was £530k (Organisational redesign work: £206,000, Business and technical support and general professional advice: £200,000, System maintenance and continuous improvement programme: £123,000, and Professional Advice to Compliance Office: £1,000). For 2021-22, the figure was £263k (Organisational redesign work: £161,000, Business and technical support and general professional advice: £39,000, System maintenance and continuous improvement programme: £56,000, and Governance: £7,000).

The delay in providing a response to this Question was due to an administrative error in the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.