Ministry of Justice curbs consultancy spend by 50%

The data comes from a Parliamentary written answer detailing expenditure following the setting up of the MoJ in 2007, mainly from Accenture's work creating the MoJ's new Libra electronic case management system.

 

Lord Bach, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Ministry, also said in the written answer that Libra “has led to a reduction in duplication of work and has enhanced services to court users, improving scheduling and monitoring of cases”. This has been mainly through integration and better sharing of information between the courts and criminal justice organisations such the police, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Office of Criminal Justice Reform, he claimed.

 

News of the sharp cut is both good and bad for the Government, as it serves to highlight how the Ministry has been one of the few departments able to meet its target to cut consultancy expenditure across all departments by around 50% after the National Audit Office report of 2006 that revealed a £1.8bn a year bill for central government use of such consultants.

 

In contrast to the MoJ, a number actually upped such spending during 2008-09, including DWP, the Home Office, Communities and Local Government and Transport: in the same written answer Lord Bach revealed The Department for International Development increased such purchasing by nearly £2m (from £8.9m 2007-08 to £10.8m in 2008-09), for instance.