Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent with private firms in the expense area Central EU Exit Consultancy (Prog) since 2016.

The Cabinet Office recently published a set of transparency data on gov.uk which details expenditure totalling approximately £1.6m for the expense area of ‘Central EU Exit Consultancy’.

Established in April 2018, 'Central EU Exit Consultancy’ refers to a set of contracts that enables government departments to quickly secure resource for critical work on preparations and implementation of EU Exit.

The contracts range from short, strategic advisory engagements, to day-to-day programmatic support, such as establishing and running Project Management Office functions. The contracts cover skills that are needed on EU Exit preparation and implementation to allow the widest scope for departments to secure the capability they need, including commercial, operational, programme and project management.