05 October 2007
A Performance and Efficiency Delivery Unit is to be created in Northern Ireland to improve value for money in the public sector, Finance Minister Peter Robinson told CIPFA's annual Northern Ireland conference in Newcastle, County Down.
With Northern Ireland expecting to get little more than 1% real public spending growth from the Comprehensive Spending Review – compared with annual 4% increases in recent years – it is essential to achieve efficiency savings and improve service delivery standards, Robinson said.
'Delivery of 3% annual cash-releasing efficiencies will produce more than £700m by 2010-11 for reinvestment in the Executive's public expenditure priorities,' Robinson added.
The efficiency unit's remit will be to consider 'radical' options, said the finance minister, with the aim of exceeding the 3% targets set by former direct rule ministers.
Comparisons will be made between productivity levels in Northern Ireland and best practice in the public and private sectors across the UK.
There must be a willingness to scale back programmes where policies have changed, or where there is a failure to deliver against objectives, Robinson told the conference.
Priorities will be reducing civil service administration costs and staff absenteeism. There will be an acceleration of existing initiatives, such as the replacement and updating through the private sector of civil service accommodation under the Workplace 2010 programme.
It is hoped that the PEDU will attract experienced people from both public and private sector backgrounds.
A Department of Finance and Personnel spokesman said that more details would be announced in the finance minister's Budget later in October.
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