Whitehall ‘infantilized’ by reliance on consultants, says minister | Politics

Whitehall has been “infantilized” by an “unacceptable” reliance on expensive management consultants, a government minister claimed in a leaked letter.

Lord Agnew, the Cabinet and Treasury Minister, wrote to senior officials two weeks ago demanding that they stop the rising costs paid to private companies and stop “depriving our brightest [public servants] of opportunities to work on some of the most challenging, satisfying and crunchy topics. “

A close ally of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, and a supporter of Brexit, Agnew also admits that spending on consultants has increased in part because the UK is leaving the EU.

Official data shows that following the 2016 Brexit vote, public spending on consulting firms rose rapidly to around £ 1bn and to over £ 1.5bn in 2017-18.

The letter has come amid concerns about the cost of hiring private sector experts to help public officials tackle the challenges of the coronavirus and Brexit. At the same time, Gove and Boris Johnson’s senior aide Dominic Cummings are seeking to push through civil service reforms after recruiting allies for key roles in the Cabinet Office.

Agnew’s letter cites a failure to develop appropriate skills among public officials. “Four years after voting to leave the European Union, it is unacceptable that the public administration has not yet developed the capacity to fulfill this through our own officials,” he wrote.

“We depend too much on consultants. As well as offering poor value for money, this infantilizes civil service by depriving our brightest people of opportunities to work on some of the most challenging, satisfying, and crunchy problems.

“For example, we seem to be ineffective in taking advantage of our fast transmissions [new civil servants] to do work that is then outsourced to consultants using similar people at hugely inflated cost. This is unacceptable.”

Agnew said he was “concerned about whether departments are using consulting services in the most cost-effective, efficient and appropriate way,” adding that the government would review current controls and spending limits, “to give ministers confidence. that the departments are assuming to reduce unnecessary spending and, instead, seek to develop internal capacity ”.

Management consultants are typically hired when it is believed that advice or expertise is needed, but there have been long-standing concerns about the extent of its use in the public sector.

Many senior officials or ministers work for consulting firms at some stage in their careers, so there are often strong personal ties or relationships between staff on both sides. A 2016 National Audit Office (NAO) report suggested that consultants generally cost government departments twice as much as an equivalent permanent staff member.

Cabinet Office data reported by the NAO last year showed a significant drop in spending on consultants after the introduction of new controls in 2010, from nearly £ 2bn in 2009-10 to £ 400m to £ 700 million in each of the next six years.

However, it rose after the Brexit vote and exceeded £ 1.5 billion in 2017-18. Data for subsequent years have not yet been published. The NAO report said six companies have been hired for most of the Brexit work; Deloitte; PA Consulting; PricewaterhouseCoopers; EY; Bain & Company; and Boston Consulting Group.

Analysis by data firm Tussell in 2019 found that the Cabinet Office, the Department of International Trade and the Home Office were the biggest spenders on Brexit-related jobs.

In his letter, sent on September 15 to department finance directors and chief operating officers, Agnew also highlighted significant problems with government data on consulting spending, due to disparities in figures from various financial systems. and human resources.

He wrote: “Despite recent efforts to improve and align the definitions, the data problems have not been resolved.”

In response to Agnew’s letter, the director of the FDA’s senior officials union said there was little point in scolding Whitehall for complying with the wishes of previous governments during the unprecedented challenges of Brexit and the coronavirus.

Dave Penman said its members have witnessed a four-year period of dysfunctional political leadership under three prime ministers, each with different agendas.

“Spending on consultants is one of the many tools that will have been used to respond to the demands of ministers and can only be considered in the context of the environment that is being faced at the time.

“Ministers must understand the challenges that have been imposed on the public administration if they really want to make rational reform, rather than lecture departments to take the necessary steps to meet the priorities of a previous government,” he said.

Agnew, who was appointed a minister working in the Cabinet and Treasury Office in February after holding positions in the Education and Justice departments, is one of Gove’s allies who came on board to reform the department and cut costs.

Lord Maude, who was in charge of the Cabinet Office under David Cameron, is reviewing the department’s performance and relationship with the rest of Whitehall. Maude’s adviser, Baroness Finn, Gove’s former adviser Henry de Zoete, and former Labor and Brexiter MP Gisela Stuart became non-executive members of the board in May.

The Cabinet Office was contacted for comment.