Consultants cost councils £67m

Edinburgh Council said employing consultants could help it save money.

Scotland's councils have spent record amounts on external consultants, the BBC has learned.

Local authorities spent in excess of £67m on consultants last year, a rise of more than 30% on the previous year.

The figures obtained by the BBC under freedom of information legislation showed Edinburgh was the biggest spender at £8.2m in 2006/07.

A spokesman for the council said using consultants often saved them money in the long run.

North Lanarkshire was the second biggest spender on hiring private individuals and organisations as advisors, at £7.1m.

Highland spent £7m.

The largest local authority, Glasgow, said it had spent only £2m.

The figures show East Renfrewshire spent £5,000 on secret shopping exercises, while Aberdeenshire spent £44,500 on teaching creativity, motivation skills, team-building, leadership and entrepreneurial skills to school pupils and a further £118,000 on weather forecasting consultants.

It's a colossal amount of money and I think questions have to be asked whether it is value for money Margaret Mitchell MSP

Falkirk Council spent £3,000 on consultants over school timetables, while North Lanarkshire spent almost £1,000 to find out students' perceptions of where they live.

The findings come at a time when councils are facing tough financial decisions after being charged with making 2% efficiency savings on the back of a council tax freeze.

There have already been protests in Edinburgh and Aberdeen about school closures and service cuts and in Argyll and Bute council workers staged a strike in protest at pay freezes.

Tony Grenfell, chair of the Greenhill Primary school board in Coatbridge, which is due to be amalgamated with Drumpark special needs school on the site of the old Coatbridge High School, expressed his dismay that councils were spending so much on outside contractors at a time when they are having to make such harsh cuts.

Mr Grenfell said: "We are in the middle of fighting to get our school sorted out and we've got North Lanarkshire spending millions of pounds on outside consultants when they refuse to speak to the local people who are obviously the best consultants for the local area."

Central Scotland MSP Margaret Mitchell, who has been investigating consultant spending in her constituency, said it was important that councils were open with how taxpayers' money was being spent.

She said: "It's a colossal amount of money and I think questions have to be asked whether it is value for money.

"There's a real lack of transparency and accountability about how this money has been spent, and the question also must be asked why on earth are we spending over £100,000 on the salaries of so many directors if so much is having to be farmed out and can't be done in house?"

The findings also angered union officials, who said that councils must seriously consider what offers the best value for council tax payers' money.

'Getting smarter'

Dave Watson of Unison, which represents most council workers, said: "I think this massive increase in the use of consultants is very worrying at a time when councils are strapped for cash".

Edinburgh City Council finance convener Gordon Mackenzie defended the spending of the authority on outside consultants.

He said: "In Edinburgh we've had a number of large capital projects that have come on-stream and we've had to get in consultants for that.

"In addition I would argue that getting consultants in on the short term can actually save you money in the longer term because they're only there on the bill for the amount of time they do the job.

"If we brought somebody in longer term, that cost would be with us for the longer term so we're actually getting smarter about how we employ people or engage people to work for the council."

Mr Mackenzie also defended council directors of services who earn in excess of £100,000, saying: "They are at the top of their profession."

The only council to refuse to comply with the request was Dundee City Council. The results from North Ayrshire and the Western Isles are still pending.