Dumfries member (right) Colin Smyth, said: “The Tory-run council claimed they would clamp down on the massive cost of private consultants, but these figures show they have broken their promise and it is the hard-pressed taxpayers of Dumfries and Galloway that are left to pick up the bill.

"Of course it is necessary for the council to bring in specialist advice on occasions. But in recent months we have seen this council make some of our lowest paid workers such as public toilet attendants and soon refuse collectors redundant, whilst at the same time they are happy to sit back and let the cost of consultants spiral upwards.”

Last year spending on consultants rose on previous years when officials said a “tightening of procedures and arrangements” over the hiring of external advisors was being enforced. But the latest £2.24m bill for 2007/08 suggests that has yet to work. The year before it was just over £2m.

Much of the cash had been laid out to legal firms with employment experts over equal pay claims.  McGrigors LLP handed the council a £233,201 bill last year  for advising on the £100m Dumfries and Galloway Schools’ Public Private Partnership Project.  According to the UNISON trade union, most of that money has been spent defending equal pay claims from staff.

The council has also spent huge sums with engineering, regeneration, accountancy and computing firms – despite having departments with some of these skills in-house. Cash has also been paid to a former head teacher, now advising the council on the Schools PPP project.

However, council Tory leader, Ivor Hyslop, insists the figures represent good value for money.  “The cost of hiring specialist expertise has risen only 2.75 %  between the last two financial years. As this is below the rate of inflation, this is a reduction in real terms. Dumfries and Galloway Council continues to have the lowest council tax in mainland Scotland.

“Obviously, a key way of keeping our costs down is to buy in specialist expertise as and when needed, rather than incur a continuing cost of having this expertise in-house. We have robust systems in place to monitor this expenditure. Much of this money is spent with local firms with the resultant local economic impact, which is of considerable importance in the current economic climate.”

Labour councillors are now set to call for a further inquiry into spending.
“The Labour Group have consistently called for better controls such as regular updates to full council on the cost of consultants and more importantly what action is being taken to reduce those costs. We have also asked that no consultants should be employed unless the detailed costs are given to the committee before making these decisions," added Councillor Smyth added.

Source:http://www.dgstandard.co.uk/dumfries-news