1 The failure to implement good practice
1. Consultants, when used correctly and in the appropriate
circumstances, can help clients achieve things that clients do
not have the capacity or capability to do themselves. Organisations
use consultants for three primary reasons: 1) People: for additional
resources or specialist skills; 2) Process: for knowledge on how
to approach a task; 3) Perspective: to provide an objective or
independent view or new and innovative thinking.[3]
2. In 2005-06 the public sector in England spent
approximately £2.8 billion on consultants with central government
accounting for £1.8 billion. Aside from the scale of spend
on consultants, they are routinely used on key government initiatives
such as the Identity programme at the Home Office and the Capability
Review programme at the Cabinet Office. There have been several
high-profile value for money reviews of the government's use of
consultants; in particular done by the Efficiency Unit within
the Cabinet Office in 1994, the C&AG in 2001, and this Committee
in 2002.
3. There has been limited progress against the recommendations
made in the Committee's 2002 Report, Better value for money
from professional service.[4]
Similarly, many of the recommendations from the 1994 Report from
the Cabinet Office's Efficiency Unit remain unfulfilled.[5]
The 1994 Report identified the need to transfer skills from consultants
to civil servants, for example, but three of the five case study
departments reviewed by the C&AG have made minimal or patchy
progress and the others only 'some' progress.[6]
Figure 1 lists the recommendations from the 2002 Report
which departments and OGC have made inadequate progress in implementing.[7]
4. The C&AG's Report sets out how annual efficiency
gains of 30% (equivalent to more than £500 million a year)
could be achieved within three years if departments were to implement
a number of good practice recommendations.[8]
| Figure 1 - PAC recommendations not adequately taken up by departments and OGC
|
| Departments
|
| Departments to improve the quality of information on spend on professional services
|
| Departments to assess how best to divide work between internal and external staff
|
| Departments to reduce the number of contracts awarded by single tender
|
| Departments to share consulting contract information, in particular volume, value, services, and suppliers with other departments and across their own department to help identify opportunities for collaborative purchasing
|
| OGC
|
| OGC stopped working with departments to implement their action plans in 2003, despite further progress being required[9]
|
| OGC stopped collecting information on the spend on consultants across government in 2003
|
| OGC distributed guidance on the use of single tender procurements, however did not track its application
|
| OGC does not share information about the performance of consultants among departments
|
Source: National Audit Office
3 C&AG's Report, para 1.6, Figure 5 Back
4
Qq 32-33 Back
5
Qq 102, 104, 106 Back
6
Q 106 Back
7
C&AG's Report, Figure 2, Figure 12; Qq 108, 134-137 Back
8
C&AG's Report, para 6 Back
9
Q 11 Back
|
