Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Accepted
Efficiency savings and targets received lower priority amid recent national challenges.
Recommendation
We asked the Cabinet Office how it was ensuring that there was sufficient direction and leadership in departments and functions’ approaches to achieving savings. The Cabinet Office told us that it was getting “terrific value” in areas such as land disposals, where it had set a clear target for each department and public body to help achieve savings 20 Q 41; C&AG’s Report, para 1.9–1.10 21 C&AG’s Report paras 11, 2.6 22 Qq 59–62 23 Qq 33, 36; C&AG’s Report, para 2, 3.2; Cabinet Office, Government Efficiency Savings 2021, 28 March 2022; Cabinet Office, Government Efficiency Savings 2021/22, 19 July 2023 24 Committee of Public Accounts, Tackling fraud and corruption against government, Sixty-Ninth Report of Session 2022–23, HC 1230, 8 September 2023 Cabinet Office functional savings 13 of £500 million and had achieved savings of £1.1 billion. The Cabinet Office explained that efficiency savings and targets had become lower priority in recent years because of issues such as EU exit, response to Covid and support for Ukraine. It told us that it believed that the efficiency reporting exercises and allowing departments to keep the money they save through their initiatives had helped drive good behaviours and incentivise departments to look for savings, including making savings that can be quite difficult.25
Government Response Summary
The government commits to working with HMT to establish and publish savings targets across all functions for the 2023-24 exercise. These targets will be reported to the Committee in October 2024 and published in Spring 2025, aiming to provide direction and leadership for identifying robust and auditable savings.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: end October 2024 4.2 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. 4.3 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: end June 2025 4.4 The Cabinet Office will ensure functions report savings that are commensurate with the savings target set, publishing this in the Spring 2025 efficiency and savings publication after they have been audited by the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAF). 4.5 The Cabinet Office will use the new targets to encourage Functions to identify robust savings that are able to meet rigorous GIAF standards.