I would like to request:
Information on the total spend on external management consultants by health board for the financial years 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, and 2022/23, broken down per year.
A list of projects/initiatives which external management consultants had been contracted to work on during the financial years 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, and 2022/23, broken down per year.
Thank you for your request dated 17th November 2023.
As you note in your request this could be a very wide request due to the nature of the accounting definition and we would be happy to discuss further detail.
It should also be noted that information provided is for Public Health Wales only. As an organisation we have no jurisdiction over the activities of Health Boards and therefore, do not have access to any information requested in respect of Health Boards.
External consultancy is defined for us in the NHS Wales Manual for Accounts as:
‘The provision to management of objective advice and assistance relating to strategy, structure, management or operations of an organisation in pursuit of its purposes and objectives. Such assistance will be provided outside the ‘business as usual’ (BAU) environment when in-house skills are not available and will be of no essential consequence and time limited. Services can include the identification of options with recommendations and/or assistance with (but not delivery of) the implementation of solutions.’
Expenditure on external consultancy is reported annually in Public Health Wales NHS Trust Annual Report and Accounts. The breakdown of external consultancy expenditure across financial years requested is as follows and is reported in our annual accounts which are published:
|
Financial Year |
£000 |
|
2022-23 |
721 |
|
2021-22 |
1,405 |
|
2020-21 |
620 |
|
2019-20 |
448 |
|
2018-19 |
359 |
This expenditure will include that incurred by both Public Health Wales and the bodies for which it acts as legal host (NHS Wales Collaborative and NHS Wales Financial Delivery Unit).
We complete this analysis as part of our annual accounting process and do not routinely keep a list of projects/initiatives which external management consultants have worked on. The costs which fall under this definition accrue across many budgets in the organisation and it would be helpful to understand the request at a more specific level in order to ascertain what further information we can provide.
I have provided contact details for each Health Board below; you would need to contact them individually for the information they hold.
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/866/page/39187
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/861/page/39134
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
http://www.cardiffandvaleuhb.wales.nhs.uk/freedom-of-information-new
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board https://cwmtafmorgannwg.wales/foi/
Swansea Bay University Health Board
https://sbuhb.nhs.wales/about-us1/foia/
Hywel Dda University Health Board
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/862/page/52085
Powys Teaching Health Board
http://www.powysthb.wales.nhs.uk/freedom-of-information
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of the decision, you should write to the Corporate Complaints Manager, Public Health Wales NHS Trust, 3, Number 2, Capital Quarter, Tyndall Street, Cardiff, CF10 4BZ.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Trust. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner for Wales
2nd Floor
Churchill House
Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
Telephone: 029 2067 8400
Email: wales@ico.org.uk