LIB DEMS QUESTION SOARING SPENDING ON CONSULTANTS Print E-mail

September 2006

Local Lib Dems have discovered that the amount of money Merton Council has spent on consultants has doubled to well over £1million in the last two years.

 

Using Freedom of Information legislation, Merton Liberal Democrats have revealed figures showing that in 2003 the council spent £493, 926 on consultants, but by 2005 this had jumped to £1,160,100. They are calling on the new leader of the Council to bring this spending down and invest the money on front line services such as schools instead.

 

Local Liberal Democrat Peter Taylor said:

“This money could have been spent on vital local services such as our schools. Instead council bosses are spending ever greater sums on outside consultants’ fees.

 “In the last two years alone the amount spent by Merton Council on consultants has more than doubled. In 2005 they spent £1.2million on consultants, equivalent to a charge of £15 for every household in the borough.  

“It is vital that the new administration brings these spiralling costs under control. Local people are rightly concerned that very high levels of council tax have not been matched by improvements in local services. Cutting the amount spent on private consultants is one way this could be tackled.”   

 

 

 

NOTES TO EDITORS  

The following figures show the total spending by Merton Council on external consultants.

   2003        £493,929.22

   2004        £662,823.62

   2005        £1,160,100.71
The cost per household was calculated using Merton Council’s recently published Municipal Waste Management Strategy (click here) where it is stated that there are 78,884 households in the borough.

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