Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 20 October (HL1997), whether they will now answer the question whether the fee payable to Ecorys for their evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme has been reduced in the light of the reported problems with methodology and the consequent delay in the completion and publication of their report; and if so, by how much.

Data-quality issues required necessary quality assurance checks and this delayed the completion of one part of the evaluation whilst the evaluators addressed these issues. However, this did not warrant a reduction in payment as the work was subsequently completed. The outstanding fee payable to Ecorys for delivery of the final set of reports has now been paid in full and the contract concluded.