The fall in public sector expenditure on consultants in the UK since June’s election has been steeper and sharper than anyone expected. And it’s not stopping there: two thirds of senior public sector managers expect it to continue falling over the next year, our research has found.

Days at the Source offices have their entertaining moments, like the morning we had an enquiry about roadside assistance.

Leaving aside the outrage we may feel as tax-payers at the money wasted by government through fragmented procurement, Sir Philip Green’s report is a model of clear, uncompromising communication. In contrast to much government-sponsored material, the 33-page document is short, sharp and shocking, with each argument evidenced by a small number of salient facts.

Our latest survey of quarterly buying trends gives an idea of just how fast public sector consulting is changing.

It’s a point we’ll be exploring further in a report to be published later in the autumn, but we included a few extra questions in our standard quarterly survey, just to test the water, with interesting results.

Having just completed our mid-year evaluation of the thought leadership produced by the world’s largest consulting firms, I’m struck with how unfair a process it is.

The MCA’s ‘Are you worth your weight in gold?’ campaign for the 2011 industry awards has struck a chord with me. At a time when the value that consultants deliver is coming under increasing scrutiny it seems like a really appropriate question for the industry to ask itself. It’s also a nice reminder that – now more than ever – clients are looking for something more than standardised process and methodologies from consulting firms to help them solve their problems.

I was speaking at a conference on consulting organised by the Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv) a couple of weeks ago. You can find my presentation on the future shape of consulting here.

There’s such a lovely, subtle distinction in the English language between “a” and “the”.

Call yourself “a leading firm” and you communicate a degree of confidence and pride, but not outright arrogance. Announce yourself – and many consulting firms do – as “the leading firm” and the impression is wholly different.

I suppose it was only a matter of time.

Sex and consulting aren’t natural bedfellows, if that’s the right term to use, but a discussion over dinner with several senior marketing people in the industry suggests that might be about to change.