Can anything be done to help Whitehall kick its addiction to consultancy?
Pavitt believes that there needs to be a central government function that guides all of the departments - just as the Cabinet Office did under Maude.
"Under Francis there was a strong guidance. It was sometimes a little uncomfortable, but there was a common view and departments had their own view. That combination got us to quite a clever model that we were operating in government at that time. I'm not saying it was perfect, but there was a lot more thinking and strategising and trying to determine what's best for each organisation," he said.
Pavitt believe the recent escalation in spending on consultants is the result of poorly planned cost-cutting initiatives. "A classic [way of doing things] in government when I was there was that we used to lay-off a bunch of civil servants and find them coming back as consultants," Pavitt said.
"So although on the books it looked like it was a cost-saving, in reality, costs had gone up."
He said the government must ensure that any savings it makes in the short term can be maintained over the long haul.
Wilde believes things will improve once Whitehall proposals to ensure people who are made redundant cannot be re-engaged as a contractor or consultant are finalised.
But the government consultation document is pretty vague on this matter.
It says: "The government would seek to ensure that it would not be possible to avoid the provision through re-engagement as a contractor or consultant, and it would seek to do this in a way that does not prejudice fair competition between suppliers of services to government."
In other words, the government would decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not it can re-engage with an employee who had been made redundant, that now worked for a current or potential government supplier.
This suggests that departments will continue to make cost-cutting announcements only to re-hire redundant employees as consultants. And spending on consultancy and temporary staff will continue to spiral out of control.
That is, unless the government puts in a huge effort to develop the expertise it needs in-house.
