North Lincolnshire Council spends less on professional services

The council, from time to time, needs to use professional services to support major projects where it doesn’t have the expertise in house. These tend to be one-off projects, where it is more cost effective to ‘buy in’ the services needed.

Examples of projects include the Building Schools for the Future programme and Waste, that accounted for 10 per cent of the £175,279 the council spent on specialist expert advice. Other construction and technical related projects accounted for 80 per cent and other expenditure accounts for 10 per cent.

Councillor Richard Hannigan, cabinet member for Policy and Resources at North Lincolnshire Council, said: “I am pleased that latest figures show a huge drop in use of professional services, though these figures fluctuate depending on the time of year and what projects are being worked on.

“Seeking specialist expert advice is essential for the successful delivery of our major projects. Building Schools for the Future is an £80m investment in local schools to improve educational attainment and the learning environment. As part of this, we have rebuilt or refurbished seven North Lincolnshire schools.

“Another major project was the £9.5m new University Technical College for 14 to 18 year olds and a £20m to £40m project to secure best value and environmentally sound solution for the treatment of 47,000 tonnes a year of household waste.

“These are all huge projects and the professional services have been invaluable in helping us ensure we deliver them.”