The accountancy and consultancy company KPMG have been active politically in Scotland arguing the case for outsourcing public services. Not surprisingly offering their services to enable councils to do it!
We undertook an FoI request to find out how much they received from the Scottish public purse last year and discovered that it totals over £11m.
In today’s Scotsman KPMG are claiming that councils could “deliver better services with 20 per cent less cost”, again not surprisingly they argue outsourcing should ‘accelerate’. Very generous of the Scotsman to offer them free advertising, but not really a serious contribution to the debate on public service reform.
My letter in response to the Scotsman is in a similar vein:
“Jenny Stewart of KPMG assures us that “It is possible to deliver better services with 20 per cent less cost.” That should be borne in mind when her company next bids for Public Sector work.
KPMG charged the Public Sector in Scotland (at least) £11million in the last year, if they practice what they preach, this would result in a saving for the taxpayer of £2.2 million pounds next year (for an improved service).
Perhaps such savings could be made a condition of any future contracts that the firm receives. Alternatively, councils and others could spend money directly on services. Rather than highly paid management consultants who care more about generating further revenue for themselves than the wellbeing of the populace.”
I won't hold my breadth on the savings!
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