Quotes of the month

'It is vital that the work of hired consultants is rigorously assessed to see if they represent value for money and bring any real benefit to the work of government. That this basic rule is not being followed in a third of cases is hardly reassuring for hard-pressed taxpayers. I have long been concerned about a publicly funded gravy train for consultants and it would seem that it is still very much on track'

Assemblyman John Dallat on the Northern Ireland Audit Office’s revelations about public sector use of consultants in the province

'It's a shame. He's a fantastic bloke. He was gutted the way his personal decision came out and things portrayed nowhere near the truth. He'll be doing things that are going to add value to society. He's not going to retire on a beach'

Capita FD Gordon Hurst on the departure of chairman Rod Aldridge in the wake of the Labour party loans furore

'In 2005, project-based services and software support grew at a greater rate than the overall market average, which has not been the case since 2000'

Kathryn Hale, vice-president of Gartner’s IT services group, on how the trend for growth in outsourcing services changed in 2005