Pembrokeshire County Council has featured in a BBC documentary where renowned documentarian Jacques Peretti asked the question ‘Who’s Spending Britain’s Billions?’

London-based filmmaker Peretti, the investigative journalist behind such BBC documentaries as The Super Rich And Us and Britain’s Trillion Pound Island, delves into dubious deals with Britain’s billions in this latest programme - from the multi-billion governmental overspend on Scottish-built aircraft carriers, to the trend of local councils commissioning expensive consultancy firms to advise on cuts to public services.

“Late last year, Pembrokeshire County Council’s newly-installed chief executive, Ian Westley, called in the multinational management consultancy conglomerate PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for help in the wake of unprecedented budget pressures,” commented local county councillor Jacob Williams, who was interviewed by Mr. Peretti, alongside Tenby’s North Beach for the documentary.

“The controversial decision, taken under powers delegated to unelected officers, was without any recourse to PCC’s elected councillors.

“The deal was for PwC to come in, analyse PCC’s inner-workings and create a report identifying millions in potential savings.

“The up-front cost of this report - footed by Pembrokeshire taxpayers - was a staggering £70k.

“As Jacques hears on his journey across the UK, these reports created by PwC are of questionable value.

“A second part of the deal sees PwC take an unknown commission - in some authorities thought to be as much as 15 per cent - of any realised savings it helped to identify.

“Peretti discovers Pembrokeshire is one of a striking number of UK and Welsh local authorities to commission PwC in this way,” continued Clr. Williams, who represents the East Williamston electoral division as an independent councillor.

The £70,000 fee paid to PwC has been criticised by county councillors, with council leader, Clr. Jamie Adams stating in response that PCC would have been unable to have undertaken a similar piece of work at that cost.

‘Who’s Spending Britain’s Billions’ can currentl