Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much and what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on activities which were contracted out in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and how much and what proportion of his Department's budget he expects to be contracted out in 2014-15.

The Wales Office was part of the Ministry of Justice until 2011 and as a small department continues to use contracted out services under Ministry of Justice contracts. The Department's spend on contracted out services, and the proportion of the budget spent on these activities, from 2009-10 to 2013-14 is set out below:

In 2014-15, the Department expects to spend £726,000, which is 15% of the budget. The increase in spend on contracted out services during 2012-13 was due to the Department relocating its Cardiff office.