Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on external consultants in each of the last five years; and if she will publish a breakdown of (a) the amount paid to each consultancy contracted, (b) the name of each consultancy contracted, (c) the specific matters on which they were consulted and (d) whether each contract was subject to usual Government procurement rules.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publishes details about headcount and payroll costs for permanent staff and contractors on GOV.UK, monthly.

DWP workforce management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The DWP consultancy spend for the financial years ending 2018 through to 2022 is shown below.

2017/18 £7,200,259

2018/19 £4,446,169

2019/20 £4,570,665

2020/21 £1,284,861

2021/22 £1,041,058

DWP publishes individual contract data on all contracts valued at £10,000 and over on

Contracts Finder - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)