Jonathan Ashworth
Main Page: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)Department Debates - View all Jonathan Ashworth's debates with the Leader of the House
Oral Answers to Questions
Jonathan Ashworth Excerpts(9 years, 8 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Maude
We try to promulgate good practice as best we can. We are, however, localists. We believe that the wider public sector—those who have responsibility and are accountable for the way in which the wider public sector operates—must be responsible for their own decisions. I have had very productive conversations with Ministers in the devolved Northern Ireland Government. There is much that we can learn from each other, and much that we can gain, as in the One Public Estate programme, from working together.
Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)
Why has the Cabinet Office increased spending on consultants and agency staff to over £50 million in the last year?
Mr Maude
As the hon. Gentleman will know, the amount of money spent by the Government on consultants and contingent labour has been cut very dramatically from the grossly swollen levels that we inherited from the Government of whom he was a supporter. [Interruption.] It will sometimes go up a little bit, and it will sometimes come down a bit.