The Government will spend $11 million on consultants and $10 million on internal costs before they start building a new prison in Auckland. Department of Corrections documents released under the Official Information Act show it is already employing 18 companies, including accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and British lawyers Allen & Overy, to help oversee the...
Read more →New research shows councils could save billions on procurement. The hard part is turning those potential savings into reality. Local councils could save themselves £2.2bn a year by driving a better deal on the goods and services they buy from private companies, according to new research. The data, compiled by procurement company Spikes Cavell...
Read more →Britain’s senior civil servants are making preparations for spending cuts of up to 30% from next year, resulting in major job losses, in what is being dubbed the “public sector recession”. Leading figures in the outsourcing industry have said they are planning to take over large swaths of public services as Whitehall prepares to...
Read more →Haringey council “squandered” the equivalent of 700 social workers’ salaries on private consultants while overstretched staff failed to save Baby P, the Standard can reveal. Sharon Shoesmith’s department for children spent £23.8 million on external advisers for the borough’s school renovation programme between 2005 and 2008. The money – four times the recommended level...
Read more →The costs of planning and setting up new schools have soared by 50% under the government’s rebuilding programme, with one council paying consultants £24m before a single building had even been constructed. The massive rises in the cost of new privately financed schools – obtained under the Freedom of Information Act – have contributed...
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