Following the Publication of a House of Commons Health Select Committee report on the use of management consultants by the NHS and Department of Health on 4 June 2009, I am today laying the Government’s response before Parliament (Cm 7683). The response is in the Library of the House and copies are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office.

The Government have considered the Committee’s report and welcome it as a helpful contribution. The Command Paper sets out the Government’s response to the report and outlines the steps already being taken to meet the recommendations of the Committee.

The Department is already working to meet the Committee’s recommendations as part of a programme to improve the transparency of expenditure and to enhance the way in which management consultants are procured, managed and evaluated. Details on the Department’s use of management consultancy have already been published and will be shared with the Committee at the forthcoming public expenditure inquiry.

Our response also sets out how we plan to improve the accountability and ensure value in the use of management consultancy in the NHS. We have already set in place plans to collect details of the NHS’s overall expenditure by summer 2010. The Government have also committed to undertaking further work to improve the transparency of NHS expenditure. Through this work, the Government intend to continue to improve the level of detail we are able to provide to the Select Committee.