Some time ago the Shield’s Gazette produced one of it’s better pieces of investigative journalism when it revealed that Council chiefs had spent £300,000 of taxpayer’s money on consultants. It would seem however, that perhaps the Council were not entirely to blame for their actions and took their lead from further up the governmental tree. Today’s Times reveals that Blair’s department’s spent £3 billion on external consultant advice for the period 2005/2006 alone. Airing on the side of caution and assuming it took him some time to get into the swing of it, the figure could be as much as £20 billion for his ten year rule (I’ll type that again in case you think I made an error; £20 billion).
However, at least the Commons Public Accounts Committee, the governments own public spending watch dog, has the decency to be shocked as well, referring to the amounts in it’s report as “sheer profligacy”.
Some of this money was related to IT advice, no doubt being paid to those who were behind the decision to create the NHS national doctor’s record system or the doctor’s job application programme, MTAS. Rather than being paid on what they achieve, these companies are rewarded on time worked, even though the end result doesn’t work! You see, failure does pay, and by the millions!
Quoted in the article and a company that will be familiar to many South Tynesider’s is KPMG. Among the list of corporate sponsors at the Council’s “Temple Park Back Slap” in April this year was, yes, you’ve guessed it, KPMG. Not content with supplying the Council with free volevons, the company has hedged it’s bets over the last couple of years and donated money and nearly £1 million of “non cash” donations i.e. staff, to both the Labour and Conservative parties (Source: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/. A classic case of “political spread betting” if there ever was one.
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