Projects expert calls for "more detail" on Government efficiency savings

Jonathan Hart of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, was commenting as the Cabinet Office published details of civil service spending for 2012-13 (10-page / 149KB PDF), which showed savings of £10bn when compared to 2009-10. The figures, collated by the Government's Efficiency and Reform Group, show savings of £1.7bn as a result of "reviewing and reshaping" and "stripping out inefficiencies" from major projects.

"The interesting questions arising from this are whether there is going to be any further detail provided as to how these savings have been achieved, whether there are any lessons from this that may be applied more widely to the construction industry as a whole and finally, how and when the money that has been 'saved' is going to be put to work on new capital investments," Hart said.

"Witness, for example, the latest announcements by the Education Funding Agency in this regard, in respect of the benefits of looking more closely at the private financing of new schools construction," he said.

In its accompanying report, the Efficiency and Reform Group highlighted particular savings on the Crossrail project, administrative savings on the Health and Social Care Modernisation project, and cost-cutting on construction by the Education Funding Agency (EFA).

Overall, the announcement showed a "positive outcome" for the Treasury's "concentrated efforts" on government efficiency over the last two years, Hart said. The Efficiency and Reform Group, a joint initiative by the Cabinet Office, was set up following the last General Election to support government departments in making efficiency savings. It had set a target of £8bn savings by 2012-13.

"This government is taking radical decisions to make Whitehall leaner and more efficient so Britain can compete in the global race," said Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude.

"Civil servants across government are changing the ways they work and we are on the way to managing our finances like the best-run FTSE100 businesses. I'm pleased to announce that this work has saved £10bn, the equivalent of almost £600 for each hard-working family," he said.

Savings of £3.4bn were made on staffing costs, including reducing the size of the civil service and reforming its pension scheme, according to the Cabinet Office. A further £3.8bn was saved by linking together departments to purchase goods and services, and by reducing recruitment and consultancy costs. A further £1.1bn was saved by improving online services, selling off unused government buildings and exiting expensive rentals in prime locations, according to the figures.

"Working as a single customer across government puts us in a very powerful position to identify efficiencies and maximise our collective buying power," said Stephen Kelly, head of the Efficiency and Reform Group.

The Efficiency and Reform Group is targeting £20bn in savings against the Government's 2009-10 spend by 2015. The budgeted figure includes reducing instances of fraud and error, as well as cutting direct costs.