By Vivienne Russell
13 October 2010
Whitehall is not getting value for money from consultants, government auditors said today.
A National Audit Office report found that spending on external consultants has fallen slightly since 2006/07, but they are not effectively managed.
Seventeen Whitehall departments spent a combined £789m on consultants in 2009/10, down from £904m in 2006/07. However, the NAO said some of the fall in spending is likely to be due to increased accuracy in the recording of costs rather than increased control by management.
The report said ‘limited and inconsistent’ progress had been made in implementing NAO and Public Accounts Committee recommendations on the use of consultants. Few departments were able to provide information on their spending by consultancy type and do not always follow best practice when buying and managing consultancy services.
NAO head Amyas Morse said: ‘Although total spending on consultants has fallen in recent years, this is not the result of effective management and control.
‘Departments
need better information and skills in order to achieve good value for money
from their use of consultants. They need to do more to integrate their
decisions to use consultants within their wider workforce planning; define the
services required; know how the consultants’ work is contributing to
departmental objectives; and evaluate performance during projects and assess
what benefits, if any, have been delivered.’
Commenting on the report, Alan Leaman, chief executive of the Management Consultancies Association, said: ‘Consultancies deliver significant benefits to the public sector, including reduced costs, improved services and effective organisational change. Both buyers and consultancies must maintain a disciplined focus on delivering value.
‘The government has the opportunity to create a new and far better regime for the use of consultancy in the public sector, based on the value of the outcomes that are delivered.’
