Scottish Councils spend £60m on consultants

Scottish Councils spend £60m on consultants

Scottish Councils have spent an astonishing £60million on private advisers in the past three years. And half of the money has been spent by Aberdeen City Council alone.

A Daily Record investigation found local authorities have diverted cash from frontline services to pay for the unaccountable consultants.

Documents released under Freedom of Information laws show private firms have received huge sums of public cash. The spending has created a black hole in the nation's local government budget.

Aberdeen was the worst culprit - spending £30million. Documents revealed the Council's head of planning and infrastructure alone spent more than £12.5million on consultancy fees.

Professor David Miller, an expert in public sector accountability at Strathclyde University, said: "I think this is a major scandal. A lot of services are being delivered by organisations with a great deal less democratic accountability."

Scottish Councils Spend £60million on Consultants (Daily Record, 4 February 2008)