Consultants in (e-)Government
Last week, the GMB raised concerns about the government’s use of private consultants, claiming that it had bought in advice and support to the tune of at least £1.47 billion in 2003/4 (the figure being based on answers to Parliamentary Questions about specific parts of government and, therefore, not covering its full range of functions).
Their Press Release notes that ‘At the average rates of pay for consultants that means the government are employing an army of 27,093 private consultants a year’…. and this is on the assumption (based on Official Statistics) that consultants earn £51,770 pa on average.
There was little surprise in the finding that the Department of Work and Pensions tops the table here: it spent £307 million on consultants (which the GMB claim approximate as 5,930 consultants). Paul Kenny, the GMB Acting General Secretary, was pretty enraged, arguing: “These figures show that the tax payer is paying far too much for management and consultancy advice. There is scope to save money on these consultants and to spend the money instead on the front line public services. The culture of continual re-organisation in the public sector is creating a field day for consultants”.
Much of the usage of outside consultants is, of course, as a consequence of large scale computerisation programmes, where external contractors are routinely used. However, the story stretches beyond the front-line and right up to the top policy making echelons of the civil service too according to a story on the front page of today’s Guardian: ‘Fears over management consultant’s role in No 10‘.
A former management consultant controversially hired by Tony Blair to head Downing Street’s policy unit will have a role in deciding the appointment of Britain’s most senior civil servant, the Guardian has learned.
The prime minister has delayed the decision on who should become the new £220,000-a-year cabinet secretary while he takes the advice of David Bennett, a former partner with the global US consultancy McKinsey, on the appointment. Mr Bennett has no experience of politics or government.
His arrival in Downing Street on June 1 has attracted criticism from Labour backbenchers and trade unions who are unhappy at the number of management consultants being brought into Whitehall. His involvement in such a sensitive decision involving the civil service will be taken as proof of the influence that figures from the private sector now wield.
Interestingly:
Mr Bennett, who has a 20-year association with McKinsey - dubbed the “Jesuits of capitalism” - is expected to press civil servants to become more entrepreneurial and push through an electronic revolution in the delivery of all services. He backs the McKinsey slogan that “everything can be measured, and what gets measured gets managed”.
This policy could have massive implications for further job cuts - on top of the 84,000 already due to go - and will put him on a collision course with the Whitehall unions where resentment is already high about the appointment of business analysts and computer project failure.
And:
He came to Mr Blair’s attention after he was involved in the ground-breaking NHS project - due to start this year - to put everyone’s medical records online. He produced a report by McKinsey which urged the purchase of off-the-shelf software from major commercial companies or paid them to adapt of one of their systems. Critics say the report sounded the death knell for small computer firms or for the government developing its own systems to bid for the project.
Also:
He previously advised Tessa Jowell on IT strategy
Is all of this, perhaps, an illustration of how deeply the IT/consulting interests have penetrated the core policy networks in the UK?
Not that we are aware of the full nature of Bennett’s role. In the spirit of open government, ‘Downing Street yesterday declined to provide any details of Mr Bennett’s appointment by not disclosing his six-figure salary, duties, hours or his age. A spokeswoman said: “No press release is being issued, and MPs will have to table questions if they want to ask about his salary or job.”‘
