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Government Efficiency Review published

Sir Philip Green has published his review into Government efficiency. The review found that the Government has consistently failed to make the most of its scale, buying power and credit rating.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Sir Philip Green has published his review into Government efficiency.

The review found that the Government has consistently failed to make the most of its scale, buying power and credit rating.

Sir Philip Green was appointed by the Prime Minister on 13 August to review Government efficiency.  His focus was the procurement of goods and services like IT, travel, print and office supplies, and the management of the Government’s property portfolio.

Welcoming the report, Prime Minister David Cameron said:

I think it is a very solid report that goes into how much money we have wasted over a period in the last decade when we have had increasing public spending and yet we have made crazy decisions about property, about IT, about shared services.

Some of it, about the different costs of computers across government - or even cups of coffee across government - is pretty chilling reading.

I think it’s a good report, it will save a lot of money and it’s important we do it.

Sir Philip and his team were given access to departments’ resource accounts and information on government contracts and leases.

The review has revealed the poor quality of much of the data relating to where and how Government spends its money.  In addition, a lack of a centralised approach to buying goods and services has allowed departments to pay hugely different prices for the same items.

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Published 11 October 2010