AQW 34786/22-27


Mrs Michelle Guy
Alliance Party
Lagan Valley


Tabled Date: 05/11/2025
Answered On Date: 18/11/2025
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) all paid external advisor roles in his Department; and (ii) the amount spent on each, in each of the last 3 years.


Answer:
The details on i) all paid external advisor roles in the Department and the (ii) amount spent in each of the last three years is set out in the table below.
Type of Advice
2024-25
2023-24
2022-23
£000
£000
£000
Legal Advice in respect of the Covid enquiry
57
47
-
Advice in relation to contract tendering, business cases, due diligence works on the contract tenderer, consultancy services and tax advice
639
222
185
Education Infrastructure Advice and Site evaluations
652
585
1,909
Legal Advice on capital schemes, leases and site purchases and disposals
443
358
304
Recruitment Competitions for Departmental Board members
27
1
-
Professional support provided in relation to the RAISE Programme
70
-
-
Numerous independent reviews of DE programmes and costs in relation to Independent Assessors and Ministerial Advisory Panel*
715
297
385
Total
2,603
1,510
2,783
*The costs of reviews of DE programmes, independent assessors and the International Ministerial Advisory Panel have been consolidated, as providing this information for these individually could lead to the release of personal and commercially sensitive information.