NORWAY SPECIAL REPORT: Norwegian state spent 12 billion kroner on consultants last year
OSLO, MAR 23: Last year, the state spent NOK 12 billion on consultants. The Center Party’s (SP) leader believes that power is being transferred from the ministries to the consulting companies.
According to the newspaper Aftenposten, the expenses for the annual operation of the ministries amount to NOK 6.9 billion.
The figure appeared in a response from Minister of Finance Jan Tore Sanner (H) to SP leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum about the use of consultants by the state last year.
“The use of state consultants has become very, very high. There is far too little political debate about this use of money,” Vedum said.
Up-to-date expertise
In its reply, the Minister of Finance wrote that “consulting services are used, among other things, to have temporary access to up-to-date expertise, for example in connection with ICT projects.”
Only the use of consultants in ministries, directorates, universities, and research institutions is included in the figure.
“In general, the use of consultants can contribute to innovation and efficient use of resources in the state and to prevent budget overruns on large investments,” Sanner noted.
SP leader Vedum wants to build up competence at universities and colleges.
“It can be a conscious policy that we want a share of the study assignments in Norway to go to the University of Tromsø, for example,” he noted.
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COURTESY norwaytoday
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