Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 8
71st Report - Government’s use of external consultants
Published 11 Mar 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Government's use of external consultants All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Inconsistent data prevent departments from understanding which consultants they use, or what skills gaps they repeatedly hire consultants to address. Departmental annual reports use different definitions of what constitutes consultancy spending, which may or may not be based on the Cabinet Office definition of consultancy. Departments also do not always 11 Q 4 12 Q 33 13 C&AG’s Report, para 1.32 14 Q 73 15 Qq 74-75 16 Qq 24-26 8 separate the core department’s spending on consultants from departmental group spending, which includes ALBs, agencies and nondepartmental public bodies.17
From: Public Accounts Committee, 71st Report - Government’s use of external consultants (HC 1521), 11 March 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 June 2026 (deadline 11 May 2026).