HIQA spent over €1 million on consultancy last year, according to the Authority’s Annual Report 2021.
The report, which contains the annual financial statements for the year, stated that HIQA paid €1,294,485 in consultancy fees in 2021, compared with €778,827 in 2020, which marks an increase of €515,658.
Most of the expenditure (€702,490) in 2021 related to ‘digital and data transformation’.
The remainder of the year’s costs are outlined as follows: ‘Legal advice’ (€69,545); ‘human resources’ (€55,653); and ‘governance and strategy’ (€466,797).
“Consultancy costs include costs of external expert analysis and advice to management which contributes to decision making or policy direction,” according to the report.
“It excludes outsourced ‘business as usual’ functions.”
In addition, the annual report states the Authority spent €185,770 on legal proceedings in 2021. The corresponding figure in 2020 was €174,160. However, that year HIQA received €40,000 in a settlement associated with a judicial review, for which party-to-party costs were awarded to the Authority against the applicant in 2019.
In 2021, €4,686 was spent on ‘board and staff hospitality’ compared with €1,231 in 2020.
Overall, HIQA reported a surplus of €507,898 for the year and a total surplus of €2,050,118 after the previous year’s surplus was carried over.
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