Anger over £13m for consultants
City Tories demand leadership justifies expense as council tax is rising
OPPOSITION councillors in Birmingham have condemned a £13 million bill for external consultants over the past three years.
A Freedom of Information request (FoI) revealed that Birmingham City Council spent £5.2 million on hiring external consultants last year alone, an increase of over a third on the previous year’s expenditure.
In total the council spent £13.4 million on external consultants in the past three years, with £3.4 million being spent in 2016/17 and £4.8 million spent in 2015/16.
Over half of this was spent on economic consultants, with £2.2 million being spent in 2017/18, £500,000 in 2016/17 and £3.6 million in 2015/16, while a large portion of last year’s £5.2 million budget was spent on consultants for strategic services, coming to a total of £1.3 million.
But speaking following the publication of the figures, opposition leader Cllr Robert Alden (Con) expressed his concerns at the level of expenditure, especially at a time when council tax is rising.
He added that it was now more important than ever that the council was able to justify ‘every penny it spends’.
“We have continually highlighted our concerns with the council’s use of consultants, so after successful pressure from the Conservative opposition to b r in g spending in this area back under some kind of control, it is extremely disappointing to see it soaring once again,” he said.
“At a time of inflationbusting council tax rises it is even more important than ever that the council can justify every penny it spends, which is why we called for full elected member oversight of, and accountability, for the appointment of external consultants by the removal of officer delegations for consultant appointments. Sadly that is something the Labour administration rejected but with a review of the officer delegation due shortly we will be pushing for it once more.
“These latest figures add weight to the argument that those elected to take decisions on how hard-working taxpayers’ money is spent, take responsibility for those decisions and do not hide behind unelected officers.”
And his thoughts were echoed by the leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Cllr Jon Hunt, who expressed his concern that all money spent on external consultants is funded by the projects themselves.
“I would hope that these large sums in the economy directorate are fully funded by the projects that they are supporting and not by the council tax payer,” he said.
“Especially as I have growing con- cerns about the number of multimillion pound ‘vanity’ projects undertaken by the council, such as the Centenary Square Mirror Pool and the Perry Barr flyover demolition.”
Responding to the publication of the figures, a spokesperson for the council was keen to point out that Birmingham is the largest local authority in Europe, providing £3 billion worth of services to over one million people.
“As the largest local authority in Europe, we provide services for over one million residents – and to do so requires flexibility of workforce to ensure we can meet short-term requirements, provide specialist services and oversee transformations,” they said.
“This is done on a case-by-case basis where deemed essential, such as when skills and expertise required are not available in-house, and monitored closely.”