³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

A few months ago Cornwall Council when it was revealed that it had spent £6 million in two months on temporary workers and consultants.

The latest set of data available on the council's shows that this spend is increasing dramatically - to nearly £10 million in three months. Indeed, the current rate of spending on consultants far exceeds the average monthly spend which the Conservative-led council inherited from its predecessor, the former Cornwall County Council, in 2009.

The data for December 2010 and January this year, which produced such predictable froth and fury from the Taxpayers' Alliance, showed the council was spending nearly £70,000 per day on consultants and more than £27,500 per day on agency staff. The latest data, averaged over January, February and March 2011, shows that spend is increasing - to more than £76,300 per day on consultants and nearly £35,000 per day on agency staff.

The monthly spend on consultants for March was more than £3.2million, more than double the monthly average in 2009. Here are the stats:

January
Agency staff: £578,416
Consultants: £1,774,978

February
Agency staff: £1,198,815
Consultants: £1,858,619

March
Agency staff £1,337,709
Consultants: £3,240,038

TOTAL £9,988,578

At the same time the council's headcount contnues to fall - down by nearly 2,000 from the start of 2010 to around 19,000 today.

In 2008/9 the former county council spent £15.4m on consultants. By 2009/10 the new council had got this figure down to £11.2m. But the data for the past three months suggests the annual spend is now heading in completely the wrong direction for an administration whose election slogan had been "We'll never forget it's the taxpayers' money."

I appreciate that the term "consultant" can mean different things at different times so have asked the council for an explanation. The £3.2m spend in March is particularly interesting.