Private management consultant spending at Department of Health nearly tripled last year, accounts show

Private management consultant spending at Department of Health nearly tripled last year, accounts show Spending on private management consultants at the Department of Health and Social Care nearly tripled last year, despite a push to cut running costs by a third, official figures show.

The department’s annual report reveals that in 2017/18 it spent £12.4m on consultancy services, up from £4.5m in 2016/17.

This extra spending was needed to secure “specialist support not available with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)”, the report said. It comes after it cut hundreds of jobs to meet its pledge on reducing spending by 30 per cent in 2019. The Independent