Departmental Expenditure

Thursday, 13 July 2023

Questions (749)

David Cullinane

Question:

749. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health to outline the total agency and consultancy spend by his Department and the HSE for the months of January to June for years 2018 to 2023, broken down, by month and by year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35094/23]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Health

In response to your question the Department's total expenditure for the months of January to June from 2018 to 2023 for agency and consulting spend is set out per the table attached.

It is the policy of my Department only to engage the services of external consultants and agency staff where highly specialised skills are not available within the Department and, in particular, when such an approach is felt to be more appropriate and cost-effective.

The Department also has managed service contracts for Cleaning, Security, Canteen and IT helpdesk. The costs associated with these contracts are not included in the attached table as these would fall outside the scope of the question which related to agency and consultancy.

In relation to the amount spent by the HSE I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.

If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact myself or the Department.

The figures in the table below relate solely to the Department and exclude HSE expenditure which we have asked the HSE to respond on separately.

Consultancy	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Total
Department of Health only (excluding HSE)
2023	11,947	82,694	82,742	45,365	103,966	59,377	386,091
2022	59,862	58,989	64,825	36,940	15,273	110,057	345,945
2021	13,375	13,329	65,156	57,415	39,070	18,156	206,501
2020	141,173	36,994	115,272	184,001	13,992	39,397	530,829
2019	35,768	151,895	40,366	164,385	13,174	26,714	432,301
2018	86,719	-	329,119	-	44,187	8,715	468,741

Total Consultancy Spend	348,844	343,900	697,480	488,106	229,663	262,416	2,370,408
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Total
Agency Staff (Press and communications support) €
Figures are for Department of Health only (excluding HSE)
2023	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2022	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2021	-	-	41,557	-	45,322	86,176	173,054
2020	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2019	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2018	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Total Agency Staff €	-	-	41,557	-	45,322	86,176	173,054
Figures are for Department of Health only (excluding HSE)
Total consultancy and agency €	348,844	343,900	739,036	488,106	274,985	348,591	2,543,462