Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they propose to cap the rates paid by NHS bodies to management consultancies, similar to their policy with regard to staff agencies.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Cabinet Office have published guidance on the use of management consultants Cabinet Office controls guidance: version 4.0 which government departments and their arms length bodies are required to follow. A copy of the guidance is attached.

National Health Service providers follow a similar consultancy spending approvals process as defined by Monitor and the Trust Development Authority (TDA). Monitor has published the following guidance for foundation trusts Consultancy spending approval process: Initial guidance to NHS foundation trusts, with TDA publishing similar for NHS trusts Consultancy spending controls: Initial Guidance to NHS Trusts. Copies of the guidance are attached.

At this time, these do not include any directive to set caps on rates paid to management consultancies.