Victoria's public service pumped billions more into paying contractors and consultants, flouting a pre-election pledge from the Labor state government to reduce spending. In a report tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, the Victorian Auditor-General's Office revealed government departments spent $11.6 billion on contractors from 2018/19 to 2021/22. Another $561 million was spent on consultants. Auditor-General Andrew Greaves said there was public interest in government spending on contractors and consultants as consistently outsourcing work can deskill the public service. The report noted the state government made an election commitment in 2018 to reduce external spending on enduring public service functions, but it did not publicly report progress. Mr Greaves said departments were not required to and did not consistently, record, monitor or comprehensively report contractor and consultant expenditure, resulting in a lack of transparency. "Spending data for (the Department of Health) was not reliable due to a lack of rigour around record keeping and controls," the 62-page report reads. "Public service spending on contractors and consultants increased between 2018/19 and 2021/22, despite the spending reduction targets." Spending on contractors and consultants across eight Victorian government departments went from $2.84 billion to $4.18 billion over that span, a rise of 47 per cent. Five departments increased their overall spending on contractors and consultants, while three reduced their expenditure. Before last year's Victorian state election, Treasurer Tim Pallas promised to save $50 million a year by cutting consulting and labour hire costs. The state budget also targeted $2.1 billion in savings over four years by cutting up to 4000 public service workers, on top of scaling back the use of labour hire and consultancy firms. Victoria Community and Public Sector Union secretary Karen Batt said the report exposed a "massive and embarrassing own goal for Labor". "Their public service budget cuts prove expensive and counterproductive, with agencies forced to engage contractors instead to get the work done," she said in a statement. The auditor-general made three recommendations to all departments to improve monitoring, record-keeping and categorisation of contractor and consultant spending. One was directed specifically to the health department about procedures for recording spending and another to the Department of Treasury and Finance over reviewing financial disclosure guidelines. All were accepted in full or principle. SPENDING ON CONTRACTORS AND CONSULTANTS IN 2018/19 AND 2021/22: Department of Education: $196 million to $161 million (down 18 per cent) Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action: $337 million to $303 million (down 10 per cent) Department of Health/Department of Families, Fairness and Housing: $1.5 billion to $2.46 billion (up 64 per cent) Department of Justice and Community Safety: $34 million to $19 million (down 45 per cent) Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions: $124 million to $148 million (up 19 per cent) Department of Premier and Cabinet: $75 million to $105 million (up 40 per cent) Department of Treasury and Finance: $48 million to $87 million (up 81 per cent) Department of Transport and Planning: $526 million to $891 million (up 70 per cent) Australian Associated Press