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Consultancy Services

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of work commissioned by Government Departments has been undertaken by (a) Arthur Andersen, (b) Ernst and Young and (c) PricewaterhouseCoopers in each year since 1978. [32808]

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Mr. Leslie: Information for all Government Departments is not held centrally. This answer covers the Cabinet Office, including its agency, and the Central Office of Information.

The table gives the proportions by value of consultancy

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work commissioned by the Cabinet Office and COI that was undertaken by (a) Arthur Andersen, (b) Ernst and Young and (c) PricewaterhouseCoopers in each financial year from 1997–98 to date. Figures for earlier financial years are available only at disproportionate cost.

Per cent.

	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02(26)
Arthur Andersen	0	0	0	0.56	2.15
Ernst and Young	1.57	11.53	2.18	0.04	2.17
PricewaterhouseCoopers	0.35	2.42	2.30	5.67	4.52

⁽²⁶⁾ 2001–02 figures for year to end January and subject to audit

Contracts

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many contracts were let by his Department and agencies for which he is responsible to (a) PWC Consulting or PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Ernst and Young, (c) Deloitte Touche, (d) KPMG and (e) Andersen for consultancy services for the financial years (i) 1997–98, (ii) 1998–99, (iii) 1999–2000, (iv) 2000–01 and (v) 2001 to the latest date for which figures are available, indicating the remuneration in each case. [33843]

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the (a) number and (b) value of contracts awarded by his Department to (i) Arthur Andersen, (ii) Deloitte Touche, (ii) Ernst and Young, (iv) KPMG and (v) PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants in each year since 1997. [34996]

Mr. Leslie: The remuneration made by Cabinet Office and the Central Office of Information to PWC Consulting or PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst and Young, Deloitte Touche, KPMG and Arthur Andersen for consultancy services in each of the financial years 1997–98 to 2001–02 is set out in the table. Information on the number of individual contracts is available only at disproportionate cost.

£

	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02(27)
PWC Consulting PricewaterhouseCoopers	19,228	117,653	233,021	562,250	463,533
Ernst and Young	85,553	846,231	221,480	4,406	0
Deloitte Touche	42,593	45,839	0	32,648	0
KPMG	66,997	45,310	33,768	36,368	42,259
Arthur Andersen	0	0	0	55,812	220,313

⁽²⁷⁾ 2001–02 figures to the end of January 2002 and subject to audit.

Arthur Andersen

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what contracts his Department has had since 1997 with (a) Arthur Andersen and (b) Accenture for (i) accountancy, (ii) audit and (iii) consultancy work; and what staff have been seconded (A) to his Department from and (B) from his Department to these firms. [32424]

Mr. Leslie: Individual Government Departments are responsible for taking decisions on the goods and services they acquire taking into account the Government's policy of seeking value for money for the taxpayer.

Since 1997 the Cabinet Office, its Agencies and COI have let the following contracts with Arthur Andersen and Accenture.

	Accountancy	Audit	Consultancy
	Arthur Andersen
1997–98	0	0	0
1998–99	0	0	0
1999–2000	0	0	0
2000–01	0	0	1
2001–02	0	0	1
Accenture
1997–98	0	0	0
1998–99	0	0	0
1999–2000	0	0	0
2000–01	0	0	0
2001–02	0	0	0

The number of secondments is as follows:

	Secondment to CO	Secondment from CO
Arthur Andersen
1997–98	0	0
1998–99	1	0
1999–2000	1	0
2000–01	0	0
2001–02	1	0
Accenture
1997–98	0	0
1998–99	0	0
1999–2000	0	0
2000–01	0	1
2001–02	1	0

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Public Appointments

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) when his Department expects to publish departmental targets for the appointment of women to public bodies for (a) 2001–04 and (b) 2002–05; [35989]

(2) what percentage of those appointed to public bodies are women; and when the next set of figures will be released; [35990]

(3) what assessment his Department has made of progress by Departments towards their 1998 to 2001 targets for the appointment of women to public bodies. [35991]

Mr. Leslie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given below to my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Dr. Stoate).

Dr. Stoate: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Government will publish the next edition of "Public Bodies" and the annual publication setting out the targets for increasing diversity in public appointments; and if he will make a statement. [36683]

Mr. Leslie: I am pleased to report that the latest edition of "Public Bodies", "Public Bodies 2001", is published today. This publication provides detailed information on all public corporations, nationalised industries, health bodies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), including tribunals and boards of visitors to penal establishments, in existence at 31 March 2001. Specifically, the report sets out for each body:

Its location and terms of reference;


The name, gender and remuneration of the chair and deputy chair and the number of members of the board and their gender (where these positions exist);


The number of staff employed;


The audit arrangements and the financial year in which the body was last reviewed by Government; and


The body's total expenditure and the amounts funded by Government or by other means.

Public bodies play an important role in the processes of national government and the women and men who serve on them, and the staff of these bodies, make a very valuable and positive contribution to the continuous improvement of public services and also to better policy making.

The Government remain committed to minimising the number of NDPBs. As "Public Bodies 2001" shows that, at 31 March 2001, there were 1,025 public bodies, fewer than at any time since "Public Bodies" was first published in 1979.

In parallel with the continuing commitment to reduce the number of NDPBs, the Government also remain committed to ensuring that new NDPBs and other bodies are set up only where it can be demonstrated that this is the most cost-effective and appropriate means of carrying out the function concerned.

Finally, this Government also remain firmly committed to making appointments on merit to the boards of public bodies and to equality of opportunity with the aim of ensuring that the people who serve on public bodies are broadly representative of the diversity of the United Kingdom. To achieve this, the opportunity to play a part in public life by serving on a public body must be open

14 Feb 2002 : Column 566W

to all, whether or not they are disabled and irrespective of their age, ethnicity or gender as well as their geographical or social background. Women and men should hold an equal share of public appointments and a greater proportion of appointments should be held by people from ethnic minority backgrounds and disabled people.

We have made some progress towards these goals. At 31 March 2001 women held 34 per cent. of appointments to the bodies detailed in "Public Bodies 2001" and 4.8 per cent. were held by people from ethnic minority backgrounds; in both cases this is a small increase on the position at 31 March 2000. Similar information on the proportion of appointments held by disabled people is not yet available but it will be given in the next edition of "Public Bodies". There has been some continuing progress but there is more to do. I am therefore also pleased to announce that we have today published "Public Bodies: Opening Up Public Appointments 2002–2005", which sets out for each Department its plans for increasing the diversity of the boards of the public bodies for which it is responsible. These targets, and the activities aimed at ensuring that they are met and that our overall goals are achieved.

Copies of "Public Bodies 2001" and "Public Bodies: Opening up Appointments: 2002–2005" have been placed in the Libraries of the House. Both publications will be accessible via the Cabinet Office's internet website.

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