Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 20
20
We therefore asked our witnesses why NHST&T’s use of consultants continued to be so high.
Conclusion
We therefore asked our witnesses why NHST&T’s use of consultants continued to be so high. The previous Head of NHST&T explained that up to the end of May 2021, 196 (37%) of the 523 recruitment campaigns run by NHST&T failed to appoint anyone. They told us that this was because the skills NHST&T was trying to recruit for, in data, digital, and operational and project delivery roles, were in short supply in the civil service. They explained that as part of reducing the number of consultants, it would be important to ensure that there were permanent civil servants in the total, which had been difficult to do.45 They also acknowledged that plans to reduce consultants need to be managed in a staged manner, to ensure skills are transferred into permanent roles. The Department assured us that detailed plans were in place to reduce consultants and that it expects their numbers to be lower by March 2022.46
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: June 2022 5.2 The UKHSA wrote to the Committee on 16 December 2021 setting out how it has reduced its dependency on consultants. 5.3 The UKHSA continues to recruit civil servants to replace remaining management consultants as far as possible. COVID-19 response roles are generally offered on the basis of short-term loans, secondments and fixed term appointments to avoid a permanent increase in the size of the organisation; however, these are often less attractive, which reduces the supply of candidates. Work is underway to determine the strategy for managing future health threats and this will provide the longer-term certainty to enable the UKHSA to develop a sustainable resource plan with the agility to flex resources to reflect changing priorities and demands. 5.4 The UKHSA will write to the Committee with further progress updates in March 2022 and June 2022.