£1.8bn spent on public sector consulting
Summary
In 2005-06, central government spent £1.8 billion on consulting, while an estimated £2.8 billion public sector funding in total was spent on consultants. This Report examines the use of consultants in central government during 2005-06.
This Report looks at two types of consultancy used in central government: firstly, where external individuals and companies are engaged to work on specific projects that are outside the governement department or agency's business as usual; and secondly, where responsibility for the final outcome of the project largely rests with the department or agency.
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How does it affect me?
If you work for a public body, in the consultancy industry or are interested in how publicly-funded bodies operate, this may be of interest.
The NAO suggests that efficiency gains could be made through better use of consultants by the public sector.
A number of recommendations on the use of consultancy by the public sector are set out, including:
- Better identification of areas where core skills are lacking internally
- Employment of consultants only after an assessment of in-house skills has been carried out
- Adherence to Office of Government Commerce (OGC) guidance on consultancy contracts
- Better examination of the market for a range of approaches, contracting methods and different payment mechanisms
- Improved understanding of how consulting firms operate and better incentivisation to public sector staff to make consultancy projects a success.
The NAO scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament.
Find out more about the NAO.
