Suffolk County Council to spend a "scintillating" £122,000 on more consultants?

12.00.00pm GMT Sat 27th Mar 2010

Liberal Democrats are asking for an explanation of the proposed £122,000 spend on three consultancy firms called "Scintillate", "Fields of Learning" and "DNA". The Conservative administration at Suffolk County Council is asking for approval to spend money with these consultants at its Cabinet meeting on March 30th.

Liberal Democrat and Independent Group Leader, Kathy Pollard, commented "It is outrageous that this level of spending is being proposed with no explanation. We assume this is about streamlining the organisation. The County Council has already spent hundreds of thousands of pounds with external consultants, trying to improve efficiency within the council.

After five years they seem to be no further forward. In fact we found that they had employed 100 extra staff in the last year that they can't account for. Now they are proposing to spend a further £122,000 on consultants, with no details of the expected outcome of this spending. This is no way to run a business, let alone a County Council. In private industry you would need a business case to justify this level of spend, and you would certainly want to know what you were getting for your money."