New administration takes urgent measures to tackle consultants spend
Published 28 May 2010
Less than a week into the job, Southwark’s new cabinet member for resources is taking urgent steps to get to grips with spending on consultants.
In the first of his two part plan to clamp down on the £12 million the council spends on consultants every year, he will introduce tough new spending thresholds for consultants.
In his second move Cllr Richard Livingstone is issuing an instruction to the council's top brass to identify unnecessary consultant spending to be cut as part of the 2011/12 budget process.
Cllr Richard Livingstone, Cabinet Member for Resources, said "The council has been far too quick to splash out on consultants in the past.
"And with big government cuts hanging over our heads, it's vitally important that we take every possible step to bring consultancy spending down.
"I have had good discussions already with Council Officers and I am confident that the steps we've agreed will make best use of resources available to us and help protect frontline services."
Further information
The first part of Cllr Livingstone's two-part plan will be a constitutional change meaning that any decisions on spending on consultants above a first threshold will have to be signed off by the senior officers, likely to be the Finance Director and the Chief Executive. Decisions on spending above a second, higher figure will have to be signed off by a cabinet member as well.
