UK Inquiry Tracker

Government's use of external consultants

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry

Opened: 6 May 2025 Parliament page

The current government’s intention is to halve spending on consultants, with a commitment to producing a strategic workforce plan for the civil service in 2025 that can properly balance the use of civil servants and external resources. The National Audit Office (NAO) in 2025 publishes a lessons learned study for … Read more The current government’s intention is to halve spending on consultants, with a commitment to producing a strategic workforce plan for the civil service in 2025 that can properly balance the use of civil servants and external resources. The National Audit Office (NAO) in 2025 publishes a lessons learned study for government on its use of consultants, laying out the current facts and drawing upon past reports and new research to identify lessons for bodies considering their use. The PAC’s 2016 report found that departments' overall spending on temporary staff had at that time increased by up to 90% since 2011–12, with specialist temporary staff often costing twice as much as permanent staff. The PAC’s 2019 report on Brexit consultancy costs found there had been excessive secrecy over the use of consultants by government, with confusion over how much had actually been spent. Proceeding from the NAO’s 2025 report, the PAC will take evidence from senior government Cabinet Office officials as it scrutinises how government can best use and manage consultants to maximise value for money. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Monday 1 December 2025. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. The Committee decides what information to publish and how. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is for the Committee to say whether it will agree. It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues. On 13 November this inquiry’s name was changed from Government use of data analytics and external consultants. The Committee will hold a separate session on Government use of data analytics on error and fraud in early 2026. Show less

4 Recommendations

19 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

3 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 6 events

11 Mar
2026

Report published

71st Report - Government’s use of external consultants

5 Mar
2026

Correspondence

Letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office regarding AI efficiencies, 5 March 2026

2 Feb
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 15 December 2025 on the Governmen…

12 Jan
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to the Committee's evidence session on 15 December regarding the Governm…

15 Dec
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

15 Dec
2025

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

15 Dec 2025

View on parliament.uk

Andrew Forzani · Cabinet Office Andrew Forzani · Ministry of Defence Cat Little CB · Cabinet Office Mark Leigh · Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Rebecca Molyneux · HM Treasury

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
71st Report - Government’s use of external consultants	HC 1521	11 Mar 2026	23	Overdue

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 results

2 Recommendation Accepted

71st Report - Government’s use of …

The Cabinet Office is unable to deliver on its strategic objective to reduce consultancy spend...

The Cabinet Office is unable to deliver on its strategic objective to reduce consultancy spend because departments are not complying with its definitions and directives. The Chief Commercial Officer stated that some departments are not following Government Commercial Function guidance … Read more

Government Response

The Cabinet Office has commissioned the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) to carry out a review of 15 organisations with significant consultancy spending and will write to the Committee with GIAA’s findings and the steps the Cabinet Office will take as a result.

HM Treasury

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3 Recommendation Accepted

71st Report - Government’s use of …

The Cabinet Office is unable to demonstrate that the target to halve consultancy spend is...

The Cabinet Office is unable to demonstrate that the target to halve consultancy spend is an effective way to reduce spending on external providers. The Chancellor announced her intention to stop all non- essential spending on consultancy immediately and halve … Read more

Government Response

The Cabinet Office has commissioned departments on their spending on professional services published for 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 and will provide collated data to the Committee by July 2026.

HM Treasury

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4 Recommendation Accepted

71st Report - Government’s use of …

The Cabinet Office has not provided departments with up-to-date guidance on how to procure, learn...

The Cabinet Office has not provided departments with up-to-date guidance on how to procure, learn from and manage consultancy. The Government Commercial Function (GCF) is responsible for the Consultancy Playbook, as well as the related Sourcing Playbook. The Consultancy Playbook … Read more

Government Response

The Cabinet Office will publish the updated Consultancy Playbook by July 2026, and it will incorporate updated guidance about the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 5 of 4 classified

Accepted 3

Acknowledged 1

Deferred 1

Total 4 recs + 19 conclusions

Correspondence 3 letters

5 Mar 2026 From committee Letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office regarding AI efficiencies, 5 March 2026

Parliament page

2 Feb 2026 To committee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 15 December 2025 on the Government’s use of external consultants, 23 January 2026

Parliament page

12 Jan 2026 To committee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office relating to the Committee's evidence session on 15 December regarding the Government’s use of external consultants, 05 January 2026

Parliament page