AN Oldham MP has joined the outcry over government over money spent on private consulting contractors during the coronavirus pandemic.

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams weighed into the debate after cabinet office minister Julia Lopez voiced "concerns about the cost" of consultants "and whether we are too reliant on them", announcing that the matter is under review.

Ms Abrahams accused the Government of conducting "backroom deals to their mates".

She said: "The government has bypassed the NHS, outsourcing billions of pounds of contracts and backroom deals to their mates which then fail to deliver.

"Fail to deliver PPE on time that fits, fail to deliver testing capacity that's needed and fail to deliver a national tracing programme that contacts everyone who's infected."

Ms Lopez responded: "DHSC have procured over 32 billion items from UK-based manufacturers and international partners. It is an incredibly difficult task at an incredibly difficult time."

The row comes as the government came under fire after it emerged that the private consultancy industry had received contracts worth £16 million to help with the national response to the pandemic.

Major companies such as Deloitte, PwC and Boston Consulting Group have been working on the government's response to the virus, managing the track-and-trace system, the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the search to produce working ventilators.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Helen Hayes questioned whether the services could be conducted more efficiently in-house.

Ms Hayes told MPs: "Government spending on consultants has risen sharply in recent years, up by around £1 billion since 2016, with contracts worth at least £56 million awarded without competitive tender during the Covid crisis.

"Does the minister agree with her colleague Lord Agnew that this Government is reliant on consultants which are providing poor value for money because of their vastly inflated cost when carrying out services that could be conducted more efficiently in-house?"

She added: "Will the Government publish all renewal dates for Sitel and Serco's contracts and will she explain what justification the Government could possibly have for continuing with a failed, privatised, centralised model of Test and Trace in contrast to the effectiveness of local councils and public health teams who are denied the full funding they require?"

Ms Lopez replied: "Consultants play an important role in what government tries to achieve in a particular project, but she is right, we have concerns about the cost of those consultants and whether we are too reliant on them, and we are actively reviewing that - and I'm working with my colleague minister Agnew on these matters."

The Cabinet Office minister added: "I think that without the private sector we would have struggled to deliver the testing capacity that we have."