Contact: jean.urquhart.cllr@highland.gov.uk

Tel: (01854) 612929  07974 929758

Cllr Jean Urquhart.

Vice Convener of the SNP Highland Council Group.

SNP challenges £10m "error" from Council

Consultants 23/05/09

After Highland Council officials revealed that due to faulty advice from consultants they must find an extra £10million from budgets to fulfil the costly PPP building projects commitments.

The SNP group has secured a promise from the Lib Dem led administration of a review of how consultants are used in future.

SNP councillor Jean Urquhart, the audit and scrutiny committee chairwoman, said it was “an enormous sum” that highlighted “the folly of spending public money without setting clear guidelines for consultants”.

Councillor Urquhart (Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh) said a few individuals were making huge profits from PPP schemes while consultants had also reaped rich rewards.

“The public will be rightly angered that a job that could possibly have been done at lower cost in-house may now force cuts in other areas of education,” said Councillor Urquhart.

Fellow SNP Councillor Maxine Smith, who had demanded a review, insisted that money for education “should be for educating children”. She told the committee: “We want to know who gave this advice and why money is being wasted on poor reports leading to massive budget errors.

“We also have to be clear on what the council is going to do to avoid this kind of situation arising in the future. “It calls into question, once again, the judgment of those who supported the whole PPP process and I hope that everyone now sees the folly of these schemes.”