At Cornwall Council’s Full Council meeting yesterday, Conservative Councillor for Truro Trehaverne David Harris highlighted the staggering cost of consultants hired by the Lib Dem-Independent-run Council in the 2019-20 financial year at £20million, in particular asking how many of these costs were being hidden away in project costs.

At the same time as promising a detailed analysis of the costs, in response, Councillor Paynter, Deputy Leader of the Council and Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Cornwall Council said:

“When we are doing some of these large projects it clearly makes sense to use some of the short-term work from experts in getting these projects up and running rather than employing somebody full time just to do a very short piece of work”

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Harris said:

 “Yes, there is a time and a place for consultants and I look forward to seeing the promised analysis.”

“However £ 20 million even allowing for consultants charging at £300 per hour is equivalent to 67,000 hours so if you reckon that the average working year is 1,800 hours this is equivalent to 37 full time staff...and if you did take on 37 full time staff and pay each of them £100,000 per annum this would still only come to £3.7 million.

“Something doesn’t add up here and I am really looking forward to a breakdown of this amazing figure which Councillor Paynter claimed to be well aware of and not concerned about”