Government Departments: Consultants
The question
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Government Response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Sixty-eighth to the Seventy-fifth reports from Session 2024-26, CP 1587, May 2026, page 20, if he will publish the terms of reference of the commission to the Government Internal Audit Agency on the review of 15 organisations with significant consultancy spending; what the 15 organisations are; and what the timetable for the review is.
Answered by Chris Ward
The Cabinet Office has commissioned the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) to conduct a targeted review across 15 organisations with significant consultancy spending.
The terms of reference for this commission focus on assessing whether these organisations are adhering strictly to the definitions of consultancy spending set out by the Cabinet Office, and whether they have appropriately implemented the relevant spending and procurement controls.
The 15 organisations included in the scope of this review are:
Central Government Departments
Ministry of Defence
Department for Environment and Rural affairs
Department for Transport
HM Revenue and Customs
Department of Energy Security and Net Zero
Home Office
Department of Science, Innovation and Technology
Department of Health and Social Care
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Arms Length Bodies/Non-Ministerial Departments
National Highways (Department for Transport)
National Crime Agency (Home Office)
Ofgem (Department of Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great British Energy - Nuclear (Department of Energy Security and Net Zero)
Environment Agency (Department for Environment and Rural affairs)
Atomic Weapons Establishment (Ministry of Defence)
The review is currently underway and is expected to complete by Autumn 2026.
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