Liberal Democrats Welcome Shift Over Consultancy Costs

6.12.32pm GMT Mon 18th Feb 2008

Chris White

Liberal Democrats at County Hall have welcomed assurances from the leadership of the county council that it is prepared to look for further savings on county council overheads.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader County Councillor Chris White said:

'This is a very difficult year for the county council, given the failure of Government to provide fair levels of funding.

'The Council must do everything to ensure that overheads are pared back to protect front-line services.

'We have demanded action from the Conservative Administration to look again at communications costs, consultancy costs and management travel.

'It appears they now accept that consultancy is worth a closer look - although this rather large budget line includes a number of items which most people would not regard as ''consultancy'' in the traditional sense.

'We hope to get agreement that there should be a member investigation into items like consultancy and travel costs, with a view to increased savings in future years.

'Savings could be used to improve spending on the youth service and services for the vulnerable, as well as propping up the creaking highways budget.'

ENDS

Contacts

Chris White 01727 845300

Notes:

The consultancy budget is around £40 million but this figure includes highways and buildings maintenance, IT management costs, the cost of running the call centre and the Manpower contract. The remaining £10 million relates to self-employed consultants (temporary cover costs) and work by specialist consultancies.