Recommendation 17

As part of the government’s ambition to make savings equivalent to 5% of overall spend across government by 2024–25, every government department has both an efficiency target and an efficiency assumption “baked-in” to the funding allocated to it as part of the Spending Review. The Treasury explained that different departments had slightly different targets, depending on what it considered was deliverable. In its March 2022 and July 2023 reports on Government Efficiency Savings, however, the Cabinet Office did not state any targets for the savings achieved by functions.23 However, as part of our inquiry into Tackling fraud and corruption against government, we found that Cabinet Office and HM Treasury expected every major department should have an outcome target for their counter-fraud investments, which should provide a return of at least £3 for every £1 spent. During our evidence session in May 2023, HM Treasury told us that the move towards targets showed that investments should be underpinned by making a measurable difference to the risk or problem being addressed.24