FOI request (FOIR-702954258)

Spending on management consultants

Requested Fri 04 April 2025
Responded Fri 30 May 2025

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 relating to the council’s expenditure on management consultancy services, including services provided by the "Big Four" firms PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and KPMG.

For the financial years 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25, please provide the following information:

1. Expenditure on the Big Four consultancies:

a. Total amount spent with each of the following firms, broken down by financial year: PwC, EY, Deloitte, and KPMG.

b. The highest day rate paid to each of these firms in each financial year.

2. Expenditure on other management consultants:

a. Total amount spent on management consulting services excluding the Big Four, broken down by consultancy and financial year.

b. For each engagement, please include:

• The name of the consultancy firm

• The financial year of the expenditure

• A brief description of the project or services provided (that is, project title, or internal reference)

• The start and end dates of the engagement (or anticipated end date if ongoing)

• The procurement route used (for example, open competition, framework agreement, direct award) and the name of the procurement framework, if applicable

3. Additional Information (if available without exceeding cost limits):

a. Please state the number of individual consultants provided by each firm for each engagement.

b. Please indicate whether any deliverables were produced (for example, reports, action plans) and whether these are publicly available.

c. Please confirm whether any of the consultancy work covered tasks that would normally be performed by in-house council staff or roles that were vacant at the time.

---

Response

1. Zero spend of the 4 companies mentioned for the years listed.

2. Please see the attached document. Information is not held in regards to details of procurement routes used as procurement is managed externally through the East Sussex Procurement Hub:

https://www.hastings.gov.uk/business-commerce/supplying-council/contract-schedule/

3. Information regarding number of individual consultants and deliverables has been provided within the attached document where these details are available. The consultancy work covered tasks that could not be covered in-house due to the level of expertise required with the various areas.

Attachments

• FOIR-702954258_FOIR-702954258_1-FOI702954258.xlsx