Issue - meetings

That the Committee is assured that expenditure on consultants is being controlled and the Council is achieving value for money, therefore the Committee no longer requires an annual update report.

The Chief Executive presented the report on the processes in place to ensure effective management and control of consultancy expenditure in 2018/19.  The report was presented annually to the Committee in response to historic issues mainly arising from coding errors.  Since 2016, the reports demonstrated the effectiveness of new processes and controls which had been introduced to monitor consultancy spend and achieve value for money.

In response to a question from Allan Rainford, the Chief Executive provided clarification on the separation of posts such as agency workers, consultants and interim appointments recorded on the system.

Whilst acknowledging the supplementary information on consultancy spend accompanying the Statement of Accounts, Sally Ellis proposed that the Committee no longer receive the annual report on use of consultants due to the effective processes now in place.  Councillor Woolley spoke in support and acknowledged the significant improvements which had been made.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee is assured that expenditure on consultants is being controlled and the Council is achieving value for money, therefore the Committee no longer requires an annual update report.