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Public Accounts

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the discussion about the use of consultants is often very general and that it needs to be more specific? Of course there are cases in which consultants have been used when they should not, but if one wants to build a motorway one does not consult only those civil engineers who are on the books. One hires them in when one wants to build the motorway, knowing that the rest of the time they will be employed on building a bridge in Saudi Arabia, or something else useful. Is that not a better way of using public money than employing people on the books full time?