Navy Command FOI Section
Navy Command Headquarters
MP 1-4, Leach Building
Whale Island
PORTSMOUTH
PO2 8BY
Telephone [MOD]: +44 (0)2392 628695
Ref. 2016/05337
Facsimile [MOD]:
+44 (0)2392 625279
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx
Mr Alan Smith
Via Email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
20 June 2016
Dear Mr Smith,
Release of Information
Thank you for your Request for Information made under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 dated 20 May 2016 requesting the following information:
‘Over the last 10 financial years how much has the Royal Navy spent per year on
external consultants? Please include:
1. The name of the company
2. The project title, aim and recommendations
3. Why this work could not have been undertaken by the Civil Service or
Naval Personnel’
I can confirm that the Department holds information within scope of your request, however
the detail of the information requested is not collected centrally, and would require a manual
search of archived records that it is estimated would exceed the appropriate cost limit.
Section 12 of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for
information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which
for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending 3.5 man-days in determining whether the department holds the information and
locating, retrieving and extracting it.
Under Section 16 of the Act, duty to provide advice and assistance, I am able to provide
you with the total spend on external consultants by Navy Command for each of the last four
financial years and this is set out in the table below:
FY12/13
FY13/14
FY14/15
FY15/16
Total
Incl VAT
£43,081
£917,972
£1,564,793
£257,549
What we may be able to provide by way of refinement in respect of your request is some of
the more detailed information of the company/project for one of the years listed above, but if
separate requests were made for each of the years they would have to be amalgamated
into a single request to which the same appropriate cost limit would apply.
Consultancy services are normally only the preferred option for Navy Command when
particular skillsets are either not available or in short supply within the civilian and naval
workforce, and when the time allowed for the design and delivery of change is critical to the
success of a project or programme. Typically, management consultancy techniques are
needed to assist the design and implementation of a new administrative construct and
associated governance. A recent example of this has been the work of the Integrated
Change Programme to improve the ability of Navy Command to procure efficiently and
manage its capabilities through the use of effective business skills.
If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the
handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal
resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an
independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team, 2nd
Floor, Zone N MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx).
Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of
the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information
Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until the
MOD internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of
the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's
website,
http://.ico.org.uk. Yours sincerely,
Navy Command Secretariat FOI Section