Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 16
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)
The Cabinet Office told us that The Consultancy Playbook sets out lessons learned on getting the best value from consultancy, including knowledge transfer and sharing best practice across departments. This may particularly apply to innovative digital and technology projects where a department does not have the necessary skills internally to undertake a transformation programme to increase efficiency.
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).