The Recruiter today announced that demand for management consultants is set to rise, according to an industry report.
‘Quarterly Trends in Consultancy’ found that financial services companies expect to raise their spending on management consultants between now and April 2010, some by as much as 50%.
However, starting next summer, the Department of Health will publish details of how much NHS organisations spend per year on management consultants.
The first such report will be for fiscal year 2009-10, says the government, which was responding to concerns expressed by MPs after NHS chief executive David Nicholson told them that the Department does not keep track of how much the NHS spends on consultancy fees.
In its response, the government says the Department recognises the need to improve the management and assessment of value from the consultancy services which it uses. It is, therefore, implementing procedures which allow people who used to be employed in consultancy but who now work directly for the Department to manage the commissioning and management of consultancy contracts.
Mr Nicholson had told the Health Select Committee inquiry that consultants do “a useful job,” especially in undertaking work which NHS organisations and the Department do not have the skills for themselves.
However, given that “circumstances had in recent months changed dramatically,” a programme has now been put in place to significantly reduce the amount of consultancy used across the board, he said, and told the MPs: “you will see that come down significantly over the next six months or so.”
Although the demand for management consultants in the NHS is decreasing, demand from other sectors is likely to increase.
Rupert Dobson, interim practice manager, at Hoggett Bowers, told Recruiter that this is in line with the results of an Interim Management Association IPSOS/MORI survey which showed that between Q1 and Q2 this year there was an 11% increase in demand for members’ services.
