Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Accepted
Cabinet Office reports on functional savings lack specific targets for achieved efficiencies.
Recommendation
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
Government Response Summary
The government commits to collaborating with HMT to establish savings targets for functions for the 2023-24 exercise, which will be reported to the Committee in October 2024 and published in Spring 2025.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
In the 2021 Spending Review, HM Treasury set multi-year budgets for departments, encouraging them to achieve savings of approximately 5% on their “day-to-day” budgets by 2024–25. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation [4a]. Target implementation date: end October 2024. The Cabinet Office will work with HMT to set savings targets (cash releasing and non-cash releasing savings) across the functions to work towards for the 2023-24 savings exercise due to be published in Spring 2025. The Cabinet Office will report back to the Committee on these targets in October 2024.