With regard to the availability of necessary expertise within the Public Service, I would make the point that Better Public Services 2030, which is the Government’s Public Service Transformation Strategy, includes Workforce of the Future as one of its three pillars. This reflects a strong commitment to growing capability across the Public Service to ensure that our workforce has the skills to meet future demands. In prioritising upskilling and reskilling as a key action in Better Public Services 2030, we can ensure that specialist expertise is developed and shared across the sector to provide organisations with the capacity to deliver better outcomes through expert-led research and analysis.
Turning to the use of private consultants by public bodies, Public Financial Procedures, the State’s guide to financial management, stipulates in Section D2.39 that “Consultancy services or external support should only be availed of where the expert skills or capabilities are not available within the Government Department or Public Body contracting the service or where an external review is required by an outside body such as, for example, the EU Commission.” In line with Public Financial Procedures and Public Procurement Guidelines, it is the responsibility of all public bodies to ensure that they have effective financial management, public procurement and risk management processes in place. This applies to all areas of public spending, including in respect of consulting contracts.
In the case of my own Department, external consultancy is only used where the necessary expertise is not available within the Department. In addition, every effort is made to limit the costs that arise, with approval at senior level required for the engagement of consultancy, and to ensure that skills transfer to the staff of the Department is part of the engagement with the supplier.
