Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2025 to Question 32970 on Government Departments: Consultants, if she will list the outturn figures for the spending on consultancy in each of the financial years from 2017-18 to 2022-23.

Outturn figures for consultancy spending from the government’s Online System for Central Accounting and Reporting II (OSCAR II) are contained within datasets that are published as part of the OSCAR Annual Release.

For financial years 2019-20 to 2022-23, these can be accessed via the November 2024 OSCAR annual release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oscar-ii-publishing-raw-data-from-the-database

For financial year 2018-19, these can be accessed via the November 2023 OSCAR annual release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oscar-ii-publishing-raw-data-from-the-database

For financial year 2017-18, these can be accessed via the November 2021 OSCAR annual release here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oscar-annual-release-november-2021

In compiling the baseline referenced in Question 32970, the estimate was calculated to exclude consultancy spending in previous years by the Devolved Governments, as they are responsible for their own consultancy budgets. Spending data is taken from the chart of accounts name “EXP – PURCHASE OF GOODS/SERVICES – CONSULTANCY”.