---

Public Accounts

The organisation that we are considering—namely, UK Government—spends £600 billion in total. Of that, they spend £2.5 billion to £3 billion—0.5 per cent.—on consultancy, which is less than many private organisations and certainly less than FTSE 100 companies. They probably spend considerably more than 0.5 per cent. on what one might call outside help. We should stop banging on about consultancy in an ill-informed way and try to analyse some of the problems with the management, procurement and purchasing of consultancy to ensure that what is bought is worth while, and that, if it is not worth while, we do not buy it.