Dear Mr Martin

Freedom of Information Request F2010-014

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 17 January 2010. You asked for the following information:

“Please provide a breakdown of the expenditure made by your organisation on consultants for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Please provide information on the consultants used, the amount spent and the purpose of the expenditure.

Please include within this scope all consultants, including those used for design and management and advice.

Please also provide details of what your current projections are for years 2010, 2011 and 2012.”

I confirm that DFID holds some information relevant to your request. However as this is not held centrally we estimate that the cost of complying with your request would significantly exceed the FOI cost ceiling. This ceiling is currently set at £600 and represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3½ working days establishing whether we hold the information and then locating, retrieving and extracting it. Under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we are not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be processing it any further.

I can, however confirm that DFID does not hold projections for spending on consultancies in 2010 to 2012. You might also be interested in checking the following link to the House of Commons website which provides some information on DFID's spending on consultancies in financial years 2007-08 and 2008-09.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm100201/text/100201w0005.htm#10020134000023

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me, quoting reference F2010-014.

If you are unhappy with the service we have provided and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to Openness Unit at the address shown above or email [DFID request email].

If you do make a complaint and are not content with the outcome, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted DFID's complaints procedure. You can contact the Information Commissioner at the following address: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Helen Kennedy

Openness Unit

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED