Nearly £3m has been spent by Greenwich Council on outside experts, according to figures obtained by this newspaper.

Greenwich Council has spent on average £478k of taxpayers’ money on consultants in the last six years, according to a freedom of information request.

The council has used numerous third-party firms for advice on matters from finance to regeneration and children’s services.

The highest payment made since 2013 – which was the earliest figures were provided for – was £101,125 to DG Cities Limited in 2016/17, paid out by the health and adults department.

DG Cities, or Digital Greenwich, describes itself as an urban innovation company.

So far this year £126k has been shelled out on outside experts, compared to £405k last year.

Greenwich Council said it only uses consultants “as and when” needed in order to keep its wage bill down.

Councillor Christine Grice, cabinet member for finance and resources, said: “The Royal Borough of Greenwich uses consultants to help deliver a diverse range of services from appointing architects to design new schools to auditors to inspect our accounts.

“These specialists complement the skills our staff have in-house but mean the council only need pay for specialist services and knowledge as and when needed. This ensures we have a flexible and reliable workforce but it also keeps our wage bill down and saves council taxpayers money.”

Greenwich’s wage bill for permanent staff was £1.7m last year.

Councils across the country routinely employ third parties to offer advice - elsewhere in London, Hounslow Council spent £25m on consultants in a three-and-a-half-year period.