Consultancy magic ??

This article on the front page of the Guardian rings bells with a more general problem that I feel has affected decision makers at many levels of public service and local government. Over the last 20 years I would suggest,from experience, that there has been an increasing trend to require money to be spent on consultants as if their word is somehow more trustworthy than the mainstream of council workers/civil servants. I fear the same is true with objective one spending and many a consultant has earned a nice fee examining/recommending projects for European funding.

Of course consultants can bring benefits : specific expertise, additional capacity for peak/extra demands, a breadth of knowledge of the wider scene and an element of valuable challenge - but I often wonder whether the money spent always justifies the sums involved. (Or perhaps I'm just an old fashioned public sector worker closed to new ideas)