Defence ministry doubled its spending on outside consultancy since last year, splashing out an additional £135million
- The ministry have double spending despite cutting back on frontline forces
- They spent £245 million which was more than double last year at £110million
Defence spending on outside consultants more than doubled to £245million last year, figures show.
Despite cutting back on frontline forces, the department has spent as much on experts since 2020 as it would cost to build a frigate.
The figure is up from £110million in 2020-21 – an increase of £135million in a year, according to the department’s accounts.
The cost of temporary staff also skyrocketed by more than £60million in the past year, according to MoD accounts.
Senior Tory MP Sir John Redwood (above) said: ‘We’ve got to be very careful not to spend all our money on management consultants and not enough on the frontline
Last year Labour published a ‘dossier’ of waste in the MoD, which claimed the department had wasted at least £13billion in taxpayers’ money since 2010. Examples of waste included overspent procurements, write-offs, contract cancellations, unplanned extensions and admin errors
Yet spending on service personnel has dropped by £120million in the past year to £10.39billion. And 10,000 Army troops are to be cut by 2025.
Senior Tory MP Sir John Redwood said: ‘We’ve got to be very careful not to spend all our money on management consultants and not enough on the frontline – I just hope they got value for money.’
An MoD spokesman said: ‘The MoD uses consultancy services when external expertise is essential – which can include matters of national security – or provides better value for taxpayers’ money.’
‘This spending is subject to rigorous scrutiny before approval.’
Last year Labour published a ‘dossier’ of waste in the MoD, which claimed the department had wasted at least £13billion in taxpayers’ money since 2010.
Examples of waste included overspent procurements, write-offs, contract cancellations, unplanned extensions and admin errors.
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