asked the Minister for Energy if any private consultants have been engaged by his Department within the past year; if so, the names of these consultants; the terms of their engagement; the fees paid to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Engagement of Private Consultants.
157.
My Department have, within the last year, engaged the services of a number of private consultants to advise on matters of a complex technical and financial nature in respect of which the Department itself did not possess the necessary inhouse expertise.
Bearing in mind the very sensitive, security, strategic and commercial considerations involved in relation to the resources in the case of my Department, I am satisfied that it is necessary to follow the practice of successive Ministers for Energy in asserting that it would not be in the national interest to publish the identity of the consultants employed in each particular assignment. I can, however, give to the Deputy data on the number of consultants involved and the total fees paid to them:
15 October 1986 to 14 October 1987: Petroleum Exploration and Development (7 individuals and 4 firms/organisations) — £180,000; Natural Gas Programme (3 individuals and 6 firms/organisations) — £426,000; Minerals Exploration and Development (1 individual and 1 firm/organisation) — £25,000; Miscellaneous (1 individual and 1 firm/organisation) — £24,000. Total expenditure on consultancies in the period stated was thus £655,000.