Dear Sir or Madam,

What is the longest period of time that an individual consultant has been employed or paid in the department which was responsible for education, regardless of its name at the time, since 1 May 1998 and what has been the total cost of that contract?

Yours faithfully,

Roger Cook

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible (where a response is required). For information, the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2008/0061796

Department for Children Schools and Families

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Dear Mr Cook,

I refer to your request received on 21 July 2008 under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 for information about the longest period of time
that an individual consultant has been employed or paid in the
department which was responsible for education, regardless of its name
at the time, since 1 May 1998 and what has been the total cost of that
contract.

I am writing to advise you that information is not held by this
Department in a form that would enable us to answer your question. This
is mainly because consultancy contracts are generally with commercial
and other organisations for the provision of services and not about the
engagement of particular individuals. However, in addition, information
on consultancy contracts was not collected centrally by the Department
prior to September 2006.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote our reference number in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to
your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our
decision, you should write to me within two calendar months of the date
of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our
complaints/review procedure.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Clifton
COMMERCIAL SERVICES DIVISION
[email address]

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number
2008/0061796.

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