Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to the report of the Chief Officer Resources which was presented to provide Members with the information requested, relating to expenditure incurred during 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 on the use of consultants to support, supplement and complement the work of Officers across the Council.

The Chief Officer Resources spoke to the report and highlighted the main points contained therein.

The Chair advised Members that a report on the Use of Consultants for 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 had been presented and accepted at each Scrutiny Committee and recommended that the report be accepted at this Committee.

The Leader of the Labour Group requested further information regarding AMEO Professional Services Ltd.  The Chief Officer Resources said that AMEO were consultants brought in for support during the initial review of third party payments. The consultants had helped to develop a structure and framework to review contracts that were already in place and identify those contracts that could be renegotiated to potentially achieve savings or better value for money.  As a result of the work undertaken, this had helped to achieve targets on third party spend as part of the Bridging the Gap proposals. 

The Leader of the Labour Group referred to software upgrades by Northgate Public Services.  The Chief Officer Resources explained that Northgate was one of the Council’s primary providers of financial software packages, one of those software packages was used to administer the Revenues and Benefits service which periodically needed software upgrades.  If the software developed any issues they had the expertise to correct those issues and ensure that the software was operating as effectively as possible. Occasionally it was necessary for companies to undertake general maintenance, monitoring and upgrades to the systems.

A Member referred to Midland Software Limited and enquired if this was linked to the iTrent system.  The Chief Officer Resources confirmed that it was linked to the Organisational Development’s iTrent system and any upgrades or developments to the system would need to be undertaken by the consultants.

A Member commented that the report on the Use of Consultants had been considered by all portfolios and this report provided a good example of how the use of consultants could lead to saving money.  He felt there were several instances where the use of consultants could be beneficial.

The Leader of the Labour group agreed with the Member’s comments and added that the previous administration had used PriceWaterhouse Coopers consultants to look at the whole Authority, which had led to significant savings towards some difficult budget settings.  He felt this was the right and proper way to use consultants.

The Chair commented that there were occasions when the use of consultants was beneficial due to their expertise and this report highlighted the savings that could be achieved by the Authority.

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and endorse Option 1; namely that the report on the Use of Consultants be noted.