One Bermuda Alliance MP Shawn Crockwell questioned Premier Paula Cox’s pledge to ‘do more with less’ as he claimed Progressive Labour Party insiders are picking up lucrative consultant contracts.Mr Crockwell said Ms Cox is continuing a Ewart Brown practice by hiring PLP figures such as Renee Webb, Walton Brown and Rolfe Commissiong as Cabinet advisers.But Ms Cox hit back at the suggestion “some unholy alliance” has been struck between Government and people with a relationship with the PLP.The Premier argued those individuals were hired for their expertise on technical matters, and added that some IT work had also gone to Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards.Parliamentary Responses to questions from the OBA last week revealed consultants in Ms Cox’s departments have been paid nearly $400,000 since she replaced Dr Brown as Premier last November.Ms Webb is paid $100,000 per year, Mr Brown $4,000 per month and Mr Commissiong $7,300 per month.Mr Crockwell said in a statement yesterday: “The One Bermuda Alliance asked these questions in Parliament to let the Country know what’s being spent, on whom and for what purposes. Parliamentary Questions are one tool we use to shed light on Government activities.“Reports indicate the Premier is continuing Dr Brown’s practice of giving out lucrative consulting contracts to party insiders.“We believe some of these contracts contradict her slogan of ‘doing more with less’ and, in the context of hard times and her calls for ‘fiscal restraint’, they reflect a disappointing pattern of decision-making that puts party first not Bermuda first.”Ms Cox replied in a statement last night: “It amazes me every day when I hear another story has been released by the Opposition reporting in the daily on Government’s handling or in their words, ‘mishandling’ of a particular issue. Well today I hear the issue is consultancy contracts yet again.“When Government and the word consultancy comes up, too often there is more than a hint that there is some unholy alliance that has been struck.“These articles always focus on persons who are perceived to have a relationship to the Progressive Labour Party.“But for sources that appear to have so much information on the inner workings of this Government, they seem to neglect to report on one of the other names who along with these other individuals is providing at least to date, sound advice to our Government.“MP Bob Richard’s IT Company has been awarded many Government consultancy contracts to assist on the IT front, but I’ve yet to hear his name mentioned in any media reporting.”Mr Richards was not named in any of the documents listing consultants released by Ministers on Friday. However, a Cabinet source last night said he is a major shareholder at BITS, which has been paid $46,000 for IT work in the Transport Ministry.Ms Cox continued: “As I have stated before this administration is resetting the dial. We will use qualified Bermudian expertise to assist the Government on various technical matters.“I would like to thank Rolfe Commissiong, Walton Brown, Renee Webb and Bob Richards for their services to date. As you can see, the Progressive Labour Party Government knows how to put politics aside in order to achieve the best result for this country.”Other figures released on Friday show the Child and Family Services Department spent $2.6 million on residential tuition for psychological education at a number of American locations. That includes $393,000 to the Devereux Foundation in Orlando and $352,000 to Discovery Academy in Utah.An additional $287,000 was spent on residential treatment services in Utah and Massachusetts.Argus is paid $360,000 per year to set up and administer the dental benefit plan. According to details released by Health Minister Zane DeSilva, Argus is required to carry out a range of services including creating electronic records, issuing documents and supplying claims analysis.In the Community and Cultural Affairs Department, Ruth Thomas is on a $9,000 contract as a writer in residence from April 2010 to August 2011; Persis Butler has been paid $9,000 for the same position, with another $4,000 remaining on her contract, which runs from February 2010 to November this year.Wakefield Quinn received $78,000 from the Human Affairs Department for legal services regarding Harold Darrell from December last year to June this year.Gang intervention and supervision training has been provided to the Ministry of Justice by non-Bermudians Mack Jenkins and Tony McElroy, at a cost of $5,600 each, for three days in January.That Ministry is paying out $1.1 million to Liberty Behavioural Health Corporation for professional services to the Transitional Living Centre from March 2010 to June next year.Non-Bermudian Frederick Dyer was paid $43,000 to develop an after school programme on social and emotional learning for the National Drug Control between June last year and June this year.AA Access Partnership, of London, was paid $44,000 by the Ministry of the Environment to provide support for the BermduaSat filing, establishment of the licensing process on the Island and development of telecommunications.