Watchdog doubts government claim on efficiency gains

Watchdog doubts government claim on efficiency gains

	Published : Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:55 By : Amy Watts Print this Story

LONDON: The National Audit Office has questioned the government's claims on its plans to save 21.5 billion pounds by 2008, saying the gains the government professes as having made so far can at best be termed as provisional.

The government had launched in 2004 what it called the Gershon Review, intending to improve the efficiency in public sector and government undertakings and it has claimed that it has achieved around 20 per cent of the targeted savings.

In countering the government's claims, the National Audit Office said in a report that the government's claims need to be assessed with caution at this stage. "Limitations in measurement methodologies mean that the reported gains of 4.7 billion pounds should not be regarded as final," the report said.

The Gershon Review proposes to bring in part of the efficiency gains through improved technology and job cuts. This has created protests from unions.

The National Audit Office has made recommendations like better collaboration between different public sector units and making data available on which managers should take accurate and timely decisions.

The watchdog's head Sir John Bourn, who is the comptroller and auditor-general, said there is clear progress, but the government should now "move from isolated, one-off efficiency initiatives, covering selected activities, towards a much more all-embracing approach to achieving efficiency".

The treasury, reacting to the remarks, said it is confident it will be able to deliver the savings promised. A treasury spokesperson said, "We have already delivered more than 4.7 billion pounds of efficiency savings, and we are firmly on track to deliver our 21 billion savings target by 2008, as we will demonstrate in next month's budget."

Chancellor Gordon Brown, in his pre-budget report, had claimed savings of 4.7 billion pounds mainly by cutting 10,000 jobs at the department for work & pensions and another 3,500 from the revenue & customs department.

The National Audit Office is critical of the fact that 68 out of the 300 projects, which are expected to deliver the projected savings, did not have baseline figures attached, making it very difficult to judge how much was being saved.

It was also concerned that 15 per cent of the overall savings were meant to be delivered by IT projects, but the government's record in delivering IT projects on time and on budget is less than perfect.

Meanwhile, a Confederation of British Industry survey found that nine out of 10 British firms believed the government will not be able to meet the efficiency target. The CBI had sent out the surveys to 1,823 companies and received 307 responses.

CBI's director of public services Neil Bentley said the country's civil service is poorly equipped to deliver the efficiency programme. It will need people with professional skills and a more rigorous and challenging system of performance management, he added.