Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2017 to Question 65256, on procurement, if he will estimate the number of work-hours spent by officials of his Department on the monitoring of contracts awarded to external providers.

The Scotland Office utilises existing service contracts between suppliers and the Scottish Government or the Ministry of Justice. The Scotland Office does not hold records on the number of hours spent by officials monitoring contracts awarded to external providers. It is not possible to provide an accurate estimation of work-hours as this work is done by staff members whose roles cover other functions such as accommodation and finance.