Whitehall spending on outside management consultants has soared to more than £865m,

Whitehall spending on outside management consultants has soared to more than £865m, according to new figures compiled from Government statistics by the Liberal Democrats.

They claimed to have unveiled a "catalogue of excess and incompetence" showing that far from cutting consultancy contracts - as recommended by a Government watchdog - departments had actually piled on costs.

The statistics showed that fees paid to outside consultants rose by £128m in a year, from £737m in 1992-93 to £865.5m in 1993-94.