A POLICY addressing Peterborough City Council’s use of expensive consultants is to be considered by the cabinet despite fears it may be ignored.
The council’s Sustainable Growth and Scrutiny Committee approved the consultancy and interim policy at a meeting on Tuesday night.
It sets out the rules and regulations surrounding how consultants and short-term staff are employed.
The policy will mean any consultants costing more than £5,000 have to be approved by the executive director strategic resources and if it is over £50,000 it will go to the cabinet member for resources.
Some members of the committee took issue with bits of the document including the decision not to make consultants stick to the same employment rules as permanent staff.
Councillor Nick Sandford said he feels parts of the document will be ignored anyway.
He said: “There is supposed to be a skills transfer for interim staff to pass on their knowledge.
“I wonder if this is happening when the council’s head of HR has been employed on an interim basis and there are a few people in strategic resources who have been employed over a five or six-year period.”
Councillor Nick Arculus said he “seriously challenged” what was in the document saying it was inaccurate.
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