Labour says that education secretary Michael Gove’s Department for Education has spent hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on consultants and marketing, while the country suffers a huge shortage in primary school places.
It claims that the department has admitted to breaking Treasury rules on spending on consultants, marketing, ICT and recruitment.
Labour says that the DfE has wasted £1 billon on mismanaging the academies programme, which has been highlighted in a National Audit Office report.
The amount the department pays for consultants and contractors has increased by £350,000 since April this year, figures derived from DfE data. Of this, the amount spent on consultants has risen by £4,000 to more than £106,000 in June 2013.
It goes on to say that the total amount spent on those working at the DfE has risen by nearly half a million pounds, despite promises to reduce the number of staff in the department’s review.
In addition to this, Labour claims that nearly £10,000 has gone on travel and hotel expenses in just three months for eight senior civil servants and DfE board members
Stephen Twigg MP, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said, ‘Every penny available for our children’s education is precious and, particularly at a time when we have a huge shortage in primary school places, we cannot afford any to be wasted.
‘The scale of reckless spending on private consultants, marketing and expenses that has been uncovered in Michael Gove’s department shows how out of touch David Cameron’s Tory-led Government has become with parents and teachers across the country.’
A Department for Education spokesperson said, 'It is nonsense to say we have wasted this money. In fact we are making huge efficiency savings and have introduced significant restrictions so only the most essential spending goes for Cabinet Office approval.
'Since 2010-11 the DfE has already reduced its admin costs by £120million a year, a 26% reduction in real terms, and it will be reduced in total by nearly £175million a year, 50% in real terms, by 2014-15.'
Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said, 'These findings are a further shocking example of how Michael Gove continues to waste public money while schools suffer real terms cuts and face a dramatic increase in pupil numbers. On top of his free schools pet project and the massive £1 billion overspend in the academies programme, we now learn that the education secretary is showering a small fortune on consultants. Instead of wasting colossal amounts of public money, Michael Gove should address the real funding needs of all schools.
'The NUT has warned for some time against the consequences of diminishing the role of local authorities and centralising power in Whitehall. The Department for Education is now responsible for ensuring the best use of and value for taxpayers’ money. It is quite simply failing in its duty to do so.
'It is utterly shocking that three years into his time as Secretary of State, Michael Gove still needs to be reminded of the growing need for primary school places. Real action should have been taken long ago.'
Last week, the Labour party warned that thousands of parents face a summer of worry because of a school places crisis created by the Government.
However, a Department for Education spokesperson said that Labour’s claims were based on a ‘simplistic and totally flawed calculation.’