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Numbers on cv's that show improvements should always be figures. This is the kind of info employers are looking for, so why make them work for it? Make it as easy as possible to see...
I have seen so many 'in vogue' styles of CV come and go that I would say 'what looks right'.
I think figures is fine but it is common in formal documents (technical or otherwise) that you do not start a sentence with figures. So for example: "My department had 300 hundred people" would be rewritten as "Three hundred people were in my department".
Also bear in mind that if you several numerical references, writing in text can be hard going.
I would not worry about it too much - as you say consitency is the main thing and if 'numbers versus text' is the reason they throw your CV out they should not be in the job (or I would not want to work for them).
Having spent a while unemployed and having gone through the process of CV-optimisation, several times and with different professionals, I'd say figures every time. It breaks up the verbiage and makes it easier to read whereas written-out numbers just don't stand out. So:
32 Mill.
500,000 (or 500k - although that does look a little 'trendy')
5%
Other advice I was given:
- emphasise ways you can 'add value' to a company
- decide on a brief personal 'mission statement' that sums up what you can offer and stick it at the top.
- use bullet points and brief, action-oriented, sentences.
But you probably know all that... 
Thanks Jools.
To be honest in general I am not having a problem getting responses from agencies. My problem seems to be that I don't fit neatly in to a pigeon holed job title.
Looking on the job sites there are roles that I can apply for but the role stated is not the full extent of what I do/can do. And what I do is very rarely advertised for!
I have now changed these in the main to numbers.
I have one statement where the point is that the set of processes used by a company was rationalised from 140 to 2. Now using Pete's theory that should read as 140 to two. That just looks plain weird.
At least I am making some progress 
Cheryl,
A lot depends on where the figures are being used and the context in question. As a writer, I learned very early on that numbers in text, below ten, would be written as words, but numbers would be used above that.
"I worked in a team of 4 developers." would be written as "I worked in a team of four developers."
If presenting numerical data though, especially in a table format, I'd used numbers every time. Likewise, I would write percentages as 10% rather than ten percent (unless it were in prose).
The other thing to note when using agencies, is that they all have database systems and mine received CVs for key words. So, for example, a resourcer in an agency might search for "Prince II", "Agile" and "Project Manager", which would pick up the phrase "Prince II qualified project manager working in an Agile software development environment."
So regarding your sentence that "looks weird" I shouldn't worry too much... it only gets read if the key words get pulled out in a search. Also, in probably all cases, agencies are concerned with filling a vacancy before another agency does, and work around the requirement rather than the look at me I've a great CV, get me a job... you are only of interest if they have a job or know of a job that you can fill.
Cathal
Thanks Graham.
Thanks Cathal. Confirms what a number of agencies have told me. And therein is the key I think. I need to consider the job titles used. I have had some really strange phone calls and emails that are just so inappropriate to what I do as to be laughable.
That's why I completely rewrote the CV. It is now getting more appropriate responses, but still not exactly what I am looking for.
Need to factor in a few ideas from various people I think in order to point the agencies in the right direction.
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