2 - Consultancy in the UK Government: Modernizing Privatism

Summary

Demands made by the UK government for external policy support are big business, where the highest spend on consultants has been calculated at £2 billion in 2003–2004 (NAO 2006), and currently major consultancy firms are active in bidding for six months of Brexit work with a price tag of £1.5 million (Martin 2017). At the same time, the focus has been on review and retrenchment, with a fall in spending to £1.8b in 2005–2006 (NAO 2006), whereby ‘the government is determined to make every taxpayer penny count’ and the ‘Cabinet Office is working to help departments reduce reliance on everything from expensive consultants to print cartridges’ (Gov.uk ). Thus, it seems there is recognition of a contribution to public policy that is beyond ‘in-house’ capacity: ‘when used correctly and in the appropriate circumstances … [they] … can provide great benefit to clients – achieving things that clients do not have the capacity or capability to do themselves’ (NAO 2006: 4).