The disclosure of more than 100 contracts worth a total of £470 million last night engulfed the Government in accusations of “cronyism”.
Among those recruited by the favoured firms are a former health minister, an ex-adviser to the health secretary and a senior Whitehall official responsible for encouraging private sector involvement in the NHS.
Critics said the revelations indicated that the “revolving door” between the Government and its favourite consultant firms was spinning ever more quickly, with former senior politicians, officials and advisers linked to companies profiting directly from the policies they had introduced.
Lord Warner, a Labour peer, who was a health minister until December 2006, now acts as an adviser to PA Consulting group, which received £4.9 million from the Department of Health (DoH) in 2007/8.
Until last December he also advised Deloitte, which received almost £3 million in the same year. Since resigning as a minister in 2006, the peer has also registered interests working for six other health care, technology and IT firms.
Read more at The Telegraph.
Tags: Management consultants
