Nottingham City Council says it will have "in-house expertise" going forward after more than £1 million of spending on agency workers and consultants was announced in one week. The authority said last year that it had a "serious" shortage of staff and that it was unable to provide "competent financial advice and support" in some areas as a result.
Over the last year, the council has therefore been approving spending on consultants and agency workers across several projects. In January, the council approved a decision to spend an extra £600,000 on a consultancy company that is improving its budget management systems.
Last December, the authority approved a spend of up to £150,000 for consultants to carry out a review on how the council could boost its income, in a move which opposition figures branded "bizarre." Now, the council has published decisions on several spends which altogether equate to £1,126,999.
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They have all been announced in the space of one week and relate to areas ranging from household waste to adult social care. The first spending announced was worth £130,000 and is a six-month contract extension from June for two agency building surveyors.
The next spending announced was collectively worth £747,000 and relates to the funding of six separate roles. All the roles involve external specialists being employed on a temporary basis to support Nottingham City Council's improvement work.
Two of the roles will be supporting the council's transformation programme, whilst the third will support the improvement of its corporate landlord programme. Two of the other roles will support improvement of the council's children's services, and the final one will support improvements in adult social care.
Finally, spending worth £249,9999 was announced for consultants to provide advice as part of the council's district heating and waste disposal review. Speaking about the spending on consultants in general, Councillor Andrew Rule, now an independent member on the authority, said: "It's imperative that the expertise these consultants bring is transferred to the more permanent members of staff.
"Without that, the council will be increasingly dependent on them and that is not sensible." But a Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: "We are making significant improvements to the way our council operates, but sometimes we don’t have the necessary skills or capacity within the council and so we need to bring in external expertise.
"These appointments will drive improvements that will see us become a more efficient and financially robust council. As part of this work, we are ensuring that permanent council staff get the right skills and knowledge so that we have our own in-house expertise going forward."
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