Government has forked out nearly $15 million in consultancy fees since 2003, new figures reveal today.

Seven ministries have confirmed for the first time exactly how much taxpayers? cash they have spent on consultants? advice since July, 2003.

Finance and Health were the biggest spenders, according to the figures, paying $7.5 million and $4.1 million respectively.

But key ministries like Works, Engineering and Housing and Transport and Tourism have not yet responded publicly to consultancy questions tabled in Parliament by the Opposition ? meaning the $14.8 million total is certain to rise.

Shadow Finance Minister Pat Gordon-Pamplin last night said that paying foreign experts ?premium rates? appeared to be a poor use of taxpayers? money and exposed poor management of the civil service.

But Premier Alex Scott strongly defended Government?s record on consultants.

He said that they were used ?sparingly? and, when they were, they generally saved the public cash.

According to the new figures, the Environment Ministry spent $1.2 million on outside help since July 2003.

The Cabinet Office spent nearly $600,000, Education bankrolled $500,000 while Youth, Sport and Community Affairs stumped up $180,000.

The figures also reveal that a total of 176 consultants were used in that period.

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin pointed to a string of payments made to former civil servants and said this ?blatantly? highlighted poor management.

?It seems that the failure to implement a succession plan has left some departments without key personnel.

The premium cost to the taxpayer has become prohibitive when the outgoing civil servant is rehired as a consultant.?

She said Government?s failure to put in place permanent accounting staff in key departments had cost taxpayers $2 million.

?How many full time accountants could have been hired on that budget?? asked the Shadow Finance Minister, who noted that $287,000 was paid to KPMG for preparing Parish Council accounts. She said this job could have been done by a permanent accountant on a $100,000 salary.

More accountability was needed, she added, and details of consultancy agreements needed to be scrutinised by MPs before they were rubberstamped.

?If we need to look outside Government on an ongoing basis, should we not be bringing our own people up to scratch or be employing people on a permanent basis?

?We have got a growing civil service. We are spending more money on the civil service than ever before. If we are bringing people on board and they can?t do certain things, so we need to bring in more consultants, then we have a problem.?

Her comments came after Bermuda Public Services Union general secretary Ed Ball last week hit out at Government wasting taxpayers? money on ?useless consultants?. He said civil servant posts remained empty as money was spent on outside help. And he said that instead of bringing expertise, many were actually asking civil servants what to do.

The Premier last night rejected criticism over consultants and said the PLP Government was responsible for a $750 billion dollar economy. Most pundits would agree that with a 2.1 per cent unemployment and a low debt ceiling the economy was a success story, he said. For the economy to continue to boom, Government could not rely on ?guesswork? and sometimes needed to secure expert consultant advice before making key decisions.

?It?s not an easy way out,? stated Mr. Scott.

He said that before hiring overseas consultants, Ministers made sure that the expertise needed was not available locally.

And he said that consultants were used ?sparingly? and ?rarely?. When they were they mostly ?protected the public purse?.

Mr. Scott pointed to two examples of consultancy fees paid by his Cabinet Office. He said Government felt it ?prudent? to spend $187,500 in relation to the Bank of Bermuda take-over. He said advice was received on how other countries had worked with large international corporate partners like HSBC. ?Nobody in Bermuda had experience of overseeing a million dollar bank into our economy,? he added.

But Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin questioned the spending for advice on ?selling out the country? in relation to the HSBC take-over of Bank of Bermuda.

And the Premier said $58,000 paid to London-based Bermudian Crystal Todd helped put in place a vital future pilot programme setting up a database of Bermudian students.

Responding to UBP calls for greater debate on consultancy fees in Parliament, Mr. Scott said: ?If time permitted it would be nice to bring every decision that Government made to Parliament.

?But if we did we would never get the job done and that?s why we have Government and Ministers put in place. Most decisions have to be taken in a timely fashion. We then stand to be scrutinised.?

Mr. Scott said he had no difficulty explaining the reasons for hiring the consultants listed. He said he was not aware some ministries had not yet publicly answered Parliamentary questions on the issue and said he would press them to publish the results.

He refused to be drawn on Mr. Ball?s remarks, whom he said ?spoke in generalities?.

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin, meanwhile, said the UBP accepted that some consultancy fees listed in the new figures were unavoidable. These included upgrading computer equipment and systems. Consultant charges and software costs involved in setting up the Customs Automated Processing System (CAPS) ? which aims to overhaul and speed up the Customs process ? climbed to more than $3 million.

But she said that some of the contracts were ?jobs for the boys?, and raised concerns about the $26,000 paid to former PLP official Calvin White for Post Office accounting services when his ?real job? was running the hotel pension fund.

Former PLP Senator Calvin Smith ? a former Government Chief Statistician ? was paid $24,000 to set up social and economic indicators in connection with the Sustainable Development programme.

Mr. Scott, however, said it would have been ?foolish? for Government to ignore the former chief statistician?s expertise. ?This is not guesswork,? he added. ?We had experience in our midst.?

The Department of Health and Family Services spent $1.6 million on risk assessments and placements in overseas facilities, and the Shadow Finance Minister said it was time to start looking at how savings could be made by providing such services in Bermuda.

She said other payments that raised eyebrows included $108,000 towards new signs on the Railway Trail, and $209,000 for the controversial Ashay Rites of Passage curriculum at Dellwood Middle School.

It was revealed last week that an extra $8 million has been budgeted this year on consultants at the Ministry of Works and Engineering and Housing ? one third of the extra $25 million set aside for new housing this year.