Savings drive 'smoke and mirrors'

The government wants Whitehall to save �21.5bn

The government's efficiency drive has been dismissed as "smoke and mirrors" by the chairman of the Commons public accounts committee.

Tory MP Edward Leigh said his committee had "cast doubt on the reliability" of many of the savings claimed.

Ministers want Whitehall to save �21.5bn by 2008 through job cuts and changes to working practices.

The Treasury said it had delivered "the most substantial programme of its kind" and had already saved �23bn.

In a debate on his committee's work on Thursday, Mr Leigh said: "Smoke and mirrors are the last thing we need. Efficiency savings are nothing if they do not free up hard cash or improve delivery."

'Adverse impact'

He added: "There is evidence that some efficiency projects may be having an adverse impact on service quality."

The Gershon Review set a government target of axing 84,000 Whitehall jobs and saving �21.5bn for 2008.

But the public accounts committee has previously reported that Whitehall job cuts were a "poor tool" for saving money and said most claimed efficiencies "did not stand up to scrutiny".

I think we do provide a voice for the taxpayer Edward Leigh Public accounts committee chairman

For example some departments had reported gains but not included additional costs, while others were not genuine "efficiency savings" as they had led to a deterioration of services.

In February the Liberal Democrats also said the government had spent �430m on making civil servants redundant.

In Thursday's debate Mr Leigh said his committee "helped to give a voice to Parliament and through us to the citizen in the delivery of public services".

"Where services fail those in greatest need I think that we do provide a voice for the vulnerable, where inefficient spending fails those who contribute most in terms of their taxes, I think we do provide a voice for the taxpayer."

'Substantial programme'

Another committee member, the Labour MP Austin Mitchell, said the committee played an important role in investigating how taxpayers' money was being spent.

He said one recurring theme from the committee's reports was the "constant tendency to over-reach and try to do too much", adding ministers sometimes tried to impose more on departments than they could cope with.

He highlighted the problems with rural payments to farmers as a good example - in which thousands of farmers failed to get their EU subsidies on time. Some said the months of delay had driven them to despair and even bankruptcy.

In response to Mr Leigh's comments about the efficiency drive, a Treasury spokesman said: "We have now delivered over �23bn of ongoing efficiency savings as part of the Gershon programme.

"Independent experts have now recognised that this is the most substantial programme of its kind in the last 20 to 30 years and one that has made a real difference in delivering better value for money for the taxpayer.

"And we will go further over the coming spending period with another �30bn of savings by 2010."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version