MCA sees drop in public-sector fees

Public-sector spending on management consultancy has decreased in recent years, as government departments change their procurement policies.

Income now represents only 20 per cent of consultancy revenues, according to figures presented at the Management Consultancies Association’s seminar on “Successfully choosing and using management consultants for public-sector organisations”.

“We still spend millions on it, but there has been a downward trend in recent years,” said Roger Matthewman, procurement manager of Information Technology Services Agency (ITSA), the Department of Social Security’s executive agency. “The vast majority of spending has been on IT consultancy,” he added.

In 1993, just five government departments spent #2.5bn on external professional consultancy between them. But according to David Smith, director of regional policy at the Department of Trade & Industry, there was no exact record of how much was being spent.