Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what were the (a) staffing costs and (b) other running costs for the Government Consulting Hub in financial years (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2020-21, (iii) 2021-22, and (iv) 2022-23 up to the end of January 2023.

Total costs for the Government Consulting Hub were £5.535m, with the unit operating on a full cost recovery basis, charging fees to departments for work undertaken and an annual levy from each department from which the Playbook, knowledge exchange and capability programmes were delivered on their behalf. The estimated positive fee differential associated with Government Departments using GCH for consultancy rather than external suppliers was £4.3 million, a saving which accrued to the commissioning departments.

In January 2023, in line with the objective to develop capability in-house within departments the Hub closed and is settling its finances. The Triage service has been transferred to the Crown Commercial Service. The Consultancy Playbook will be embedded into a suite of playbooks owned by the Commercial function. The GCH consultancy skills capability programme, supporting civil servants to adopt consultancy type skills where appropriate, has now onboarded to Civil Service Learning.

By improving these skills across the public sector, we continue to ensure the Government is only using consultants when absolutely necessary, improving efficiency and saving taxpayers’ money.