The amount of tax-payers' money Bath and North East Somerset Council spends on external consultants and agency staff looks set to hit the £6 million mark for the second year running.

A new report has revealed the authority is likely to spend just over £6m on outside experts and temporary workers this year, down from £6.5m the previous year.

The figures emerged after a council watchdog panel decided to urgently review the amount spent on consultants, in a bid to curb expenditure.

Consultants are individuals, agencies or firms employed for a limited period for their expertise on anything from transport development to improving council performance.

Their fees do not come from the staff wages budget and the figure excludes costs relating to the council's building programme, costs relating to the legal battle over the Bath Spa fiasco, and the council's £600,000-a-year legal advice bill.

A report says the figures cover consultancy and temporary staff, including people employed as interim managers until posts could be filled.

It says the figures need to be seen in the context of the council's £216.5m spending budget for 2008/9, excluding schools. The non-school payroll bill is around £70m.

Temps and consultants:

cover posts where there are recruitment difficulties;

provide skills not available within the council;

cover for sickness and holiday;

meet seasonal fluctuations in demand.

The council's budget for the next financial year predicts that it will spend £3.5m to cover those costs but it could end up much higher.

The biggest user of outside consultants is the planning and transport development department, which has spent £1.7m in the current year.

This includes £200,000 on expertise for the Local Development Framework; £196,000 on advice on appeals against planning, enforcement, and transportation decisions; and £108,000 on replacing expert staff working on major projects.

The panel will discuss the report on Monday. Chairman Councillor Dave Dixon said: "We have asked each council department to provide more information and a breakdown of how that money is spent. We want to check what we're spending and if we're getting value for money.

"Consultants often bring in skills the council doesn't have but £6m is a lot of money and a big portion of the overall budget.

"Where we are bringing in temps to cover for holidays and sickness definitely needs to be looked at as many other businesses simply cover the workload from within."

Cabinet member for resources, Councillor Malcolm Hanney, said out of the total bill, £3.4m was for temporary staff, £2.2m on consultants and £400,000 on interim managers covering senior posts.

He said: "We are keeping a close eye on all spend within the council but this is not a net increase in spend."