I recently wrote how nearly 1 in 4 employees at Ofsted had been bullied or harrassed in the last 12 months. So, I’ve tabled a few more questions about the organisation. Last year they spent £2.5 million on 42 consultants. They couldn’t tell me how much they’d spent in previous years. I’m not an accountant but I find it incredible that they couldn’t. I wonder if there is a reader of this site who can tell me whether this is unusual. Also, it makes me suspicious when they have to state what the DfES definition of consultant is.
“You asked what the total cost of consultants employed by Ofsted was in each of the last three years (PQ127628) and how many consultants have been contracted to work for Ofsted in each of the last three years (PQ127629)
Based on the DfES definition of consultancy services, which is “investigating problems, providing analysis or advice, or assisting with the development of new systems, new structures or new capabilities within the organisationâ€, we will have spent around £2.5 million (including VAT) in the financial year 2006-7. This spend is through 42 consultants.
Within this total around three quarters is for Information Services related consultancy to build new systems ready for the creation of the New Ofsted with effect from 1 April 2007. The remainder covers other corporate areas such as estates, personnel and finance.
Due to the way in which Ofsted has previously prepared our accounts, this is the only year for which a separately identifiable consultancy figure is available.”
Is it me, or does this sound like a staggering figure?
7 comments ↓
I don’t know why they are unable to supply figures for previous years, but the overall cost for consultants is not that high in comparison with going rates.
If you divide £2.5 million by 42, you get £59,523.
If you call that a round £60,000 per consultant per year, it’s £5,000 a month or £1,250 a week, £250 per day.
The average rate for IT contractors was £35 per hour at the end of 2006, and day rates were up at £400 per day. And these consultants could be management consultants who can charge much more.
It is also useful to note that just because someone charges £60,000 a year, it doesn’t mean they pay themselves that because there are overheads such as Employers’ National Insurance, Public Liability Insurance, Professional Indemnity Insurance and pension contributions to take into account.
What’s shocking is not that they’ve spent £2.5million on consultants, but that they needed 42 of them. Looking at their website, they seem very top heavy, but I have no idea how many people in total are employed by Ofsted.
It’s all to do with the culture of targets, ratios and the fear of being pinned down and brought to task on a particular statistic – simplistic questions that are required to produce a simplistic answer will rarely be satisfactory in the long term.
More in depth analysis as to the actual qualitative work undertaken is required…..or alternatively you could place a little bit of faith in the proessionals engaged to do the job and not try to pick apart their very raison d’etre….
…have you seen the Trap recently at 9pm on Sunday nights?……………
Should be a piece of cake to identify consultancy costs from the accounting records (regardless of required disclosure). After all they only need to identify the providers of these consultants (e.g. Michael Page, Robert Half) and tot up the purchases from those providers in the relevant period. Might be a biit more complicated if the provider supplies other stuff (e.g. IBM) but I’d estimate it’d take an hour’s work for an accountant who has even a passing knowledge of the business.
It’s not a staggering figure. Ofsted’s annual budget is around £220m, so consultancy fees as a total of all spend is a little over one percent. That doesn’t seem high to me (OK, I admit it, I’m a consultant).
Ofsted use a large number of self-employed inspectors, so the number of people employed by them won’t give you the whole picture.
I come to this discussion late and am therefore unclear why the issue of bullying (well documented in the recently internally published survey) is being linked to the spending on consultants. Having been one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools for a very long time, pre and post Ofsted, there are many more important questions to ask which relate to standards in public life as well as the impact and effectiveness of the current organisation on school effectivenss and standards.
Will,
They’re not related. Its just that one answer to a parliamentary question convinced me to be a bit more inquisitive about the organisation.
Can you expand on your point? I’m going to ask some more questions and you might be able to give some pointers.
Tom
Since its foundation in 1992 the quality of personnel management at all levels has been very poor. There have been 3 internal surveys showing the low opinion employees in the organisation have of their managers. If you provide an email address we can get a copy of the latest report to you. There are disgraceful examples of individuals being treated poorly simply because they challenged thinking and practise in the organisation. The employee’s organisation, the First Division Association (FDA), has struggled to defend some individuals. In at least one instance an employee had to resort to using the services of a lawyer versed in employment law in order to defend themselves.
The Committee for Standards in Public Life drew up Seven Principles of Public Life in its First Report. Those Principles – Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty, Leadership – have remained unaltered and have been printed in all of the Committee’s main publications. They have failed to impact in practise on much of the management in Ofsted. Senior managers have had written evidence of outright dishonesty presented to them; of bullying and unprofessional conduct, by other managers. They have taken no action and these managers remain in post. At least one of these managers has now been promoted to a very senior position in the civil service. The organisation has no truck with disagreement.
Will
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