PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Staff (9 December 2014)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has spent on (a) consultants, (b) temporary staff and (c) contingent labour in each of the last five years; how many people have been so employed; what the length of contract of each such person was; and what equivalent civil service salary band each was on.

Asked by:
Lucy Powell (Labour)

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) departmental spend in these categories in the last five years is set out in the table below.

2010/2011: Consultancy: £19.2m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £5.2m
2011/2012: Consultancy: £12.0m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £4.3m
2012/2013: Consultancy: £3.5m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £5.8m
2013/2014: Consultancy: £1.5m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £6.2m
2014/2015: Consultancy: £1.2m Contingent Labour/temporary staff: £3.4m

Since March 2010, the provision of contingent labour/temporary staff in the FCO has been provided by Hays Specialist Recruitment as part of a managed service for the provision of temporary labour. Under the current government; a Cabinet Office freeze on management consultancy has led to all governmment departments driving down consultancy costs. This reflected in the steady reduction in consultancy spend from 2011 onwards; our spend on consultancy in 2013/14 was 92% lower than in 2010/2011.

It is not possible to specify over this period how many people have been employed; their contract lengths and their equivalent civil service salary band without incurring disproportionate cost.

Answered by:
Sir David Lidington (Conservative)
16 December 2014