Issue - meetings

Report FSD24047

Members of ER&C PDS requested a report on Consultant and Contractors expenditure.  Officers had therefore looked at expenditure in 2023/24 in both Revenue and Capital Budgets.

The Chairman requested that the report be presented to the Committee annually and that it be referred on to the five service PDS Committees for detailed consideration.

A Member questioned why some information in the report was redacted.  It was suggested that the report be revised to provide full details of all the Council’s contractors. Another Member suggested that caution be taken as some of the contracts related to Childrens Social Care and were court directed.  It was suggested that these contracts should be removed from the appendix as there was no discretion with these specific contracts.

In response to a question, the Director of Finance confirmed that the use of contractors was a last resort.  Areas where specialist knowledge and expertise was needed were identified and the ongoing use of contractors monitored.

The Committee noted that there were two key questions to be considered when scrutinising the use of consultants:

1. Was the use of the consultant necessary?
2. Did the use of the consultant deliver value for money?

RESOLVED: That the report be noted and referred to the service Policy Development and Scrutiny (PDS) Committees for further detailed consideration.