Women and Equalities written question – answered at on 3 May 2024.
John Hayes
Conservative, South Holland and The Deepings
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how much her Department has spent on external consultancies in the last five years.
Maria Caulfield
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Equality Hub is part of the Cabinet Office and external consultancy spend is reported within the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts.
For 2019-20, Cabinet Office external consultancy spend can be found on pages 59 and 104 of our Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20, linked here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f16e6aa3a6f40727f97b746/Cabinet-Office-Annual-Report-and-Accounts-2019-20.pdf
For 2020-21, Cabinet Office external consultancy spend can be found on pages 104 and 206 of our Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21, linked here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60f03ea28fa8f50c716bccda/15640_CO_Annual_Report_2020_2021_digital_temp.pdf
For 2021-22, Cabinet Office external consultancy spend can be found on pages 119 and 197 of our Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22, linked here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1123904/CO_ARA21-22_WEB_Final_121222.pdf
For 2022-23 Cabinet Office external consultancy spend can be found on pages 107 and 191 of our Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, linked here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6509a3394cd3c3000d68ccd4/CO_ARA22-23_WEB_190923.pdf
Consultancy spend for 2023-24 will be published in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24, later this year.
Cabinet Office has a mature assurance framework for Consultancy & Professional Services. A dedicated team exists to assure such spending and make recommendations to officials accordingly for decision. The assurance framework is built on the principles outlined in the Consultancy Playbook and aims to ensure that where such requirements are justified, they deliver value for money for the taxpayer. This use of these consultants is a legitimate part of policymaking that helps to deliver efficient public services to the taxpayer and has been a feature under successive Governments.
Yes4 people think so
No2 people think not
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Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
