Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2017 to Question 64992, on Attorney General: procurement, how many civil servants of the Law Officers' Departments have contract management responsibility for external providers.

It is not possible to be precise about the exact number of civil servants who oversee contracts which have been awarded to external providers.

The majority of the 330 lawyers GLD’s Litigation Group are engaged in managing contracts, for example instructing expert witnesses and counsel.

12.5 (fte) CPS staff spend more than 50% of their time on commercial work - including 2.0 staff specifically engaged to provide the Government Legal Department purchasing advice.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has a central procurement team of three individuals who oversee SFO procurement including managing high value contracts and advising staff on best practice.

There will be other staff across the LODs that are responsible for overseeing contracts however central records are not currently maintained on each staff member involved.