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Figures released by the Council reveal that over £1 million was spent on consultant’s fees in the final 6 months of last year.

The expenditure came at a time when Labour were preparing to announce an unprecedented £19 million cut in pubic service budgets with over 100 jobs losses in the pipeline.

In opposition, Labour had criticised the use of outside consultants by the Council despite being assured that it was often cheaper to do so than recruit permanent additional employees. Now they seem to have got that message, but the scale of the conversion will have surprised many.

With hundreds of thousands of pounds also being spent on new furniture, it is likely that some scrutiny of the cost assumptions for the furnishing of the new Council offices will be demanded.

The Council should re-use existing furniture wherever possible.