Cathy Bennett
Ceist:
273. Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide a breakdown of all consultants engaged with his Department; the costs associated with their services, by year, and name of consultant, in each of the years 2012 to 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [70430/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra
The information requested by the Deputy is being collated by my Department and a response will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Orders.
Following agreement with the Deputies office, the information requested in relation to all consultants engaged with in each year 2015 to 2025, is set out in the attached table.
My Department seeks to minimise the use of consultants and only engages consultancy companies when particular additional expertise is required for delivery of the services which support the business processes of the Department. Such services are used in areas where the Department does not have the necessary expertise or internal capacity to deliver the services and where it would not make practical, operational or economic sense to build up this capability within the Department.
Some engagements are necessary to satisfy auditing and EU regulatory requirements as to independent review. All contracts are negotiated with a view to achieving best value for money and keeping expenditure to a minimum.
