Shropshire Council leader defends £3 million spend on money-saving consultants
Opposition councillors say they are being left in the dark about how a consulting firm has been used to make savings at Shropshire Council.
Speaking at a meeting of the council last week, Conservative leader Lezley Picton defended the use of £3 million to employ consulting firm Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) to help the authority deliver efficiency savings.
The company was engaged by the authority in February this year as part of a three-year arrangement to help the council reduce its ongoing costs and meet a £50m savings target, set as part of the previous budget.
But Shropshire Liberal Democrat leader Roger Evans says members are being frozen out of the process – and has called for greater transparency in how the firm is being used.
“As a member, we have been asking how, what, where has this money been saved. Why didn’t Shropshire Council look at this before? Why did they need consultants on £1m a year to find these savings?” he asked.
“Councillors have never been asked their views, and have never been shown examples of what that saving is. We’ve asked questions and I’m not sure how much information the Conservative councillors have, but as an opposition councillor, we haven’t been given any details whatsoever.
“If they asked councillors how to save money, I’m sure they could come forward with ideas. I’m sure if they asked staff how to save money, and people who are providing different services, who could also save money.”
In response to a question from a member of the public, Councillor Picton told the full council meeting last week that £3.3m spent with PwC had resulted in more than £37m savings to council budgets, some of which could be reinvested into further business transformation projects.
However, specific details of projects brought forward or delivered by the consulting firm were not provided.
“PwC were appointed to help provide the capacity and capability to help deliver transformation savings identified within the medium term financial strategy,” said Councillor Picton.
“As at the end of November we had committed £3.3m of one-off spend which is linked to the delivery of 16 projects being run in parallel, and £37.7m in year on year savings.
“The additionality provided by PwC means that their their costs will be covered by savings delivery in excess of that built into the medium-term financial plan and an element of this will be reinvested to secure transformational savings into 24/25 and beyond.
“We are committed to ensuring that our resources are being used in the most effective manner to support Shropshire residents,” she added.
