Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many consultants his Department has hired since 2016; and what the cost of that hiring was to the public purse.

The Department does not hold information on the number of consultants hired in any one year as this work is often commissioned as part of an outcomes- based contract to ensure value for money.

The amount spent on consultants each year since 2016 is published in the Department Annual Report and Accounts on page 55 under Expenditure on Consultancy and Temporary Staff at the website below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/727588/MHCLG_ARA_2017_18_WEB_Accessible.pdf.