Recommendation 2

Different functions are still at different levels of development, and different levels of maturity in their approaches to calculating and reporting savings. The 14 functions are different shapes and sizes and have different approaches and methodologies to calculating savings. It has taken nearly a decade for the government to begin quantifying and reporting the efficiency savings that functions deliver. Those that do report are at different stages of development in terms of their maturity as organisations and how they report their savings. While most have a clear methodology in place, some still do not, meaning the savings reported are inconsistent. For example, the Commercial function has a detailed methodology for claiming savings, while the Property function did not include the appropriate level of detail and documentation for its savings to be included in the most recent Cabinet Office exercise. Recommendation 2a: Cabinet Office should, within six months, take stock of the different functions to understand their respective progress, and outline how it will support those who need remedial action to improve. b) By the end of 2024, the Cabinet Office should publish a balanced scorecard for each function which includes savings of all types made by the functions.