UK in-house consulting model ‘quite different’ to ours, says Gallagher

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Public service minister Katy Gallagher told senate estimates on Tuesday that the UK model of in-house consulting within the APS was one of several being looked at for best-practice.

Gallagher said the UK model was “quite different”, and that the APS version is still being developed.

“We’re looking at, particularly, how to shape something for our public service and give it the best opportunity to succeed,” the senator said.

“This is part of our approach to ensure that agencies just don’t immediately go out to a consultant when they’ve got a particular piece of work that they might not have the skills for or think that that is the easiest option.”

The public service minister added she understood the UK model to be a cost-recovery model which “affected the buy-in”.

Gallagher was being questioned about the UK model as that model was being shut down, as first reported by The Financial Times.

The UK model was one jurisdiction examined in the APS Inc report from 2021 by the Finance and Public Administration References Committee, of which Gallagher was a member.

The closure of the in-house consulting model in the UK also comes as its government has quietly removed spending caps for departments on consultants, per The Guardian.

Previously, UK departments were required to get central approval for consultancy contracts worth between £20,000 and £600,000 (AUD $34,865-$1,045,950). That limit has been removed.

Central approval is still required for government contracts worth more than £20 million (AUD $34.87 million).

“We are committed to improving efficiency and reducing consultancy spend across government,” a UK Cabinet Office spokesperson told The Guardian.

“The recent changes removed a number of administrative processes and the Cabinet Office will continue to assess data on departments’ consultancy spend.”

Back in Australia, public sector reform secretary Gordon de Brouwer told senate estimates that his team was also looking at models in other jurisdictions in Australia, Singapore and New Zealand.

“We really do have lots of conversations with people about what they see that works in their system,” de Brouwer said.

APS reform deputy secretary Rachel Bacon added she had spoken to a UK Cabinet Office colleague about the closure of the in-house consulting model a few weeks ago.

“[They] let me know that the model was well regarded, but the funding for the function was reprioritised to other priorities,” Bacon said.

Bacon said there were three elements under consideration for the APS reform team.

“One element is around a core consulting service, so the undertaking of consultancies,” Bacon said.

“The second element is around helping [how] agencies and public servants view their [consumption] of consultancy services.

“And the third is around uplifting and connecting existing a capacity and capability across the public service.”

Bacon added the advice to the government was still being finalised.