Agenda item

To consider the attached report.

The Chief Finance Officer introduced the report on the cost of Consultants and Agency Staff from 2017 up to the end of February 2019. It showed the areas where they had worked and how much had been spent in these areas. The expenditure had increased over the last couple of years especially around the Local Plan and in the Estates sections. The report also contained some commentary on the new consultants in each directorate.

He noted that expenditure in recent years had increased significantly; in 2015/16 overall expenditure was just short of £1.5m whereas in 2017/18 expenditure was double that at nearly £3m and in this year currently stands at a little over £2.5m with a month to go so the outturn position will be similar to last year. The reasons for the levels of expenditure were explored in the report but quite clearly the Local Plan and costs within the estates division have had a significant impact.

Councillor Whitehouse noted the consultancy costs on Public Relations due to the creation of the new website. There had been a lot of problems on the website and if a consultant was involved then they were not worth the money. She cited the elections results pages for last year. P Maddock said that he would ask PR about this.

Councillor Baldwin asked about the consultant costs to the Local Plan; as it was a long term operation, could we not have taken on some in-house expertise instead of using consultants. Councillor Mohindra commented that there was a national shortage of such officers and that it was not for the lack of trying that we could not get the right staff.

Councillor Patel asked about the consultants relating to the Legal and Peoples Team and the Peoples Strategy. He was told that this would be picked up as part of the People’s Strategy.

Councillor Patel went on to ask if we picked up on the reasons why staff left at their exit interviews. P Maginnis replied that this would be mostly money related reasons; people leaving for better money and better benefit packages offered to staff. She went on to note that the consultant employed in estates had so far brought in additional income into the Council which covered his salary.

Councillor Mohindra commented that having consultants was not a bad thing as the Council sometimes needed the expertise that they brought.

Councillor Patel noted the costs within the Housing Maintenance and Repairs Section. Was this related just to getting in extra craftsmen? P Maddock said that some of this expenditure was wrongly ascribed and should be allocated to housebuilding. Some of the costs were for surveyors.

Councillor Whitehouse asked if new consultants received an introduction to the Council and was there a plan to introduce them to Members. She was told that our contractors were given an introduction and if needed officers could do the same thing for the consultants. P Maginnis added that sometimes HR did not hear about the employment any new consultants as they were not ‘standard’ employees.

Councillor Chris Whitbread said that we brought them in to do a professional piece of work and to cover this piece of work for a certain period of time. We must have them to make any progress.

RESOLVED:

That the members of the Resources Select Committee noted and commented on the Agency and Consultancy report.