Consultants cost councils £67m

james73 · Consultants cost councils £67m

Consultants cost councils £67m

Scotland's councils have spent record amounts on external consultants, the
BBC has learned.

Local authorities spent in excess of £67m on consultants last year, a rise of
more than 30% on the previous year.

The figures obtained by the BBC under freedom of information legislation
showed Edinburgh was the biggest spender at £8.2m in 2006/07.

A spokesman for the council said using consultants often saved them
money in the long run.

North Lanarkshire was the second biggest spender on hiring private
individuals and organisations as advisors, at £7.1m.

Highland spent £7m.

The largest local authority, Glasgow, said it had spent only £2m.

The figures show East Renfrewshire spent £5,000 on secret shopping
exercises, while Aberdeenshire spent £44,500 on teaching creativity,
motivation skills, team-building, leadership and entrepreneurial skills to
school pupils and a further £118,000 on weather forecasting consultants.

Falkirk Council spent £3,000 on consultants over school timetables, while
North Lanarkshire spent almost £1,000 to find out students' perceptions of
where they live.

The findings come at a time when councils are facing tough financial
decisions after being charged with making 2% efficiency savings on the
back of a council tax freeze.

There have already been protests in Edinburgh and Aberdeen about school
closures and service cuts and in Argyll and Bute council workers staged a
strike in protest at pay freezes.

Tony Grenfell, chair of the Greenhill Primary school board in Coatbridge,
which is due to be amalgamated with Drumpark special needs school on
the site of the old Coatbridge High School, expressed his dismay that
councils were spending so much on outside contractors at a time when
they are having to make such harsh cuts.

Mr Grenfell said: "We are in the middle of fighting to get our school sorted
out and we've got North Lanarkshire spending millions of pounds on
outside consultants when they refuse to speak to the local people who are
obviously the best consultants for the local area."

Central Scotland MSP Margaret Mitchell, who has been investigating
consultant spending in her constituency, said it was important that councils
were open with how taxpayers' money was being spent.

She said: "It's a colossal amount of money and I think questions have to
be asked whether it is value for money.

"There's a real lack of transparency and accountability about how this
money has been spent, and the question also must be asked why on earth
are we spending over £100,000 on the salaries of so many directors if so
much is having to be farmed out and can't be done in house?"

The findings also angered union officials, who said that councils must
seriously consider what offers the best value for council tax payers' money.

James H

monument

weather forecasting consultants?

AlanM