£2m of aid budget goes to consultants: Ministers ‘wasting cash’ meant to help Third World

January 12th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Ministers have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on management, legal and IT consultants
Biggest slice of cash – £284,000 – handed to Hawkpoint Partners, an international corporate finance firm

By
Daniel Martin

Last updated at 11:53 PM on 11th January 2012

At least £2million of Britain’s overseas aid budget has gone into the pockets of outside consultancy firms since the election, figures have revealed.

Rather than ensuring as much money as possible goes towards alleviating Third World poverty, ministers have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on management, legal and IT consultants.

The biggest slice of cash – £284,000 – was handed to Hawkpoint Partners, an international corporate finance firm.

Local Haitians receiving aid. DfId has thrown away millions on management, legal and IT consultants

The Coalition has previously controversially pledged that the aid budget will rise to 0.7 per cent of national income – even though schools, police forces, councils and all Government departments except health are facing stringent cuts.

Critics last night lambasted ministers for wasting so much on exorbitant rates charged by consultancy firms at a time of austerity.

The figures were revealed by International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell following a parliamentary question from Labour’s aid spokesman Ivan Lewis.

The £2million total covers the period from May 2010, when the Coalition came to power, to November last year. It means that the cost will have exceeded this total in the weeks since.

Among the recipients of the huge slice of money spent on consultants were auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has received £254,000; and professional services firm Coffey International, which got £87,100.

Tens of thousands of pounds went to companies describing themselves as ‘governance consultancies’, ‘construction management consultancies’ and ‘banking consultancies’.

Pricey: The biggest slice of cash - £284,000 - was handed to Hawkpoint Partners, an international corporate finance firm, pictured

Pricey: The biggest slice of cash – £284,000 – was handed to Hawkpoint Partners, an international corporate finance firm, pictured

Opin Systems received £33,500 for IT work it carried out to ensure all of the Department for International Development’s local offices can communicate with each other; while global management consultancy giant Accenture received £23,400.

A firm called Social Development Direct was paid £27,500. It calls itself a ‘social development consultancy’ with interests including ‘gender and conflict’.

International law firm Herbert Smith LLP was paid £58,400. And £24,900 went to Wren Media, whose website says it has ‘20 years’ experience of drawing up communications strategies, editing research papers and policy briefs and building the capacity of researchers and the media to communicate agricultural science’.

Ivan Lewis said consultants were necessary but that taxpayers' money should be sent in a transparent way

Ivan Lewis said consultants were necessary but that taxpayers’ money should be sent in a transparent way

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘The Department for International Development claims it is spending its rapidly expanding budget on helping the world’s poorest, but instead millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being handed to consultancy firms.

‘While DfID’s budget increases, the rest of the public sector has had to tighten their belts.

‘This is just one area where ministers could reduce spending while still helping those in poverty around the world.

‘Sometimes external expertise can be useful but spending £2million in just over a year looks like a poor deal for taxpayers.’

In his written answer, Mr Mitchell said: ‘Consultancy is subject to a stringent business case process and only approved where it is deemed to be an operational necessity.

‘DfID spend on consultancy from May 2010 to the end of November 2011 is £2million.’

Last night Mr Lewis said: ‘In some circumstances consultants are necessary to support the work of DfID, but in these difficult financial times it is important that taxpayers have confidence that their money is being spent in a transparent and accountable way.’

A spokesman for DfID said it only used consultants for specific aid programmes and projects which need specific work or a short-term surge in activity.

The bulk of consultant use is for independent monitoring and auditing of aid delivery, ensuring UK money is protected and aid gets to where it is meant to.