The Investment, Industry and Information Technology Ministry has said that the Labour Party and its media have criticised it for its expenditure on consultancies, which during 2006 cost Lm1,800,000.

The ministry said it was responsible for

entities that, in total, employed some 10,000 people in a wide range of activities, from an airline, to investment promotion, ship repair, pilotage in the ports, the privatisation of public assets, the generation of electricity, water distribution and many other sectors.

For the government to employ staff who would dispense with the need to resort to consultants would be much more costly.

The ministry listed many cases where consultants had been employed. These included Air Malta honouring its fiscal obligations where it operated, without which it would not be able to operate; Enemalta spending Lm53,900 on consultancies to be able to commercialise its oil division and Malta Enterprise engaging multipliers abroad to help it promote Malta as an investment destination.

Malta Shipyards was changing its way of operating to lessen the impact on its surroundings; MITTS Ltd had employed consultants to introduce systems that would provide a back-up in the event of computer failure; consultants had also been employed in connection with plants needed to treat drainage before it was released into the sea and there had been consultants on eGovernment operations.

The ministry gave listed many other examples and said that, through its criticism, the Labour Party had showed it was against the activities and operations that had benefited from these consultancies. It said that this information had been given in parliament in a detailed parliamentary reply but the MLP had ignored it completely. The MLP had a lot to explain if it truly believed that the consultancies had been a waste of money, the ministry said.