Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much (a) his Department and (b) his Department's arm's length bodies spent on consultants in 2017-18.

Total spent on Consultancy service during Financial Year 2017-18 for:

1. Ministry of Justice was £37,605,447.50

2. Arm’s length bodies was £787,292.00

Consultancy Services, as used by the Ministry of Justice, are defined as externally sourced professional or expert advice across a range of specialist fields such as strategy, legal or HR.

These specialist services are only used where there is no internal expertise, or where the nature of the advice is temporary or very specialist and does not warrant the permanent recruitment of Civil Servants.