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Public Accounts

That is a specialised expertise and it is relevant to employ it as necessary. However, the problem goes wider than that, because the big accountancy houses that provide the consultancy services have no more experience or expertise than the Government Departments responsible for any particular service. It is the general use of consultants that causes the problems. The Government like to say that a matter has been reported on by consultants. That is why they employ them, but they should have the confidence to say what people in a Department think should be done, and how.