1,560% RISE IN LONDON DEVELOPMENT AGENCY CONSULTANT BILL IN 2 YEARS

9.32.57am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 27th Jul 2004

Shocking new figures revealed today by Liberal Democrat London Assembly Spokesman on Economic Development, Dee Doocey, shows that the amount spent on consultants by the London Development Agency has tripled in the last three weeks and increased by 1,563% in the last two years.

The figures, revealed in Parliamentary answers and Mayoral answers show that in 2001/02, the London Development Agency spent £781,000. The Mayor then told the DTi that this year the LDA would spend £4million. However, in new figures published by the Mayor in late July this soared to £13million.

Dee Doocey said:-

"The massive increase in the amount spent on London Development Agency consultants raises serious issues about the transparency and accountability of the LDA.

"The Mayor told Ministers that the LDA would spend £4million and yet less than two months into his new term of office the Mayor is now telling Londoners that this has trebled.

"London's taxpayers want to know who these consultants are, what these consultants do and demonstrate whether this is providing real value for money."

ENDS

Notes to editor

· A Parliamentary answer shown below taken from 29 Jun 2004 : Column 191W shows that the LDA told Ministers it was set to spend £4million on consultants

· On 20th July 2004, the Liberal Democrats received the following information about LDA consultants and shows that there has been an increase in consultant spending of more than 1,560% in the last 2 years

Consultants

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the expenditure on consultants was for each regional development agency in each year since 1997. [173795]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 19 May 2004]: The regional development agencies have provided the following information.

Spend by regional development agencies on consultants in 2003-04Agency £ million

Advantage West Midlands 0.6

East of England Development Agency 1.2

East Midlands Development Agency 5

London Development Agency 4

North West Development Agency 3.4

ONE North East 2.5

South East of England Development Agency 3

South West of England Regional Development Agency 0.9

Yorkshire Forward 2

The Regional Development Agencies do not retain information on consultancy costs in relation to past years and such information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

LDA Spending on ConsultantsQuestion No: 979 / 2004Mike TuffreyHow much did the LDA spend on consultants each year since 2000-01?The LDA has spent the following on consultants each year since 2000-01. FY Total spend (£)

2000-01 1,210,986

2001-02 781,636

2002-03 3,274,087

2003-04 13,000,033