By David Williams
14 September 2010
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt
today told MPs that his ministry will have to be ‘more imaginative than any
other department in Whitehall’ in seeking to slash its costs by half.
Giving evidence to the
Commons culture, media and sport select committee this morning, Hunt defended
his plans to cut running costs at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport by
50%.
Stripping back administration
was the best way to protect organisations that depend on government grants, he
claimed.
Hunt told Conservative chair
John Whittingdale that he wanted to continue with all the core activities
currently carried out by the department, despite the unparalleled cuts.
‘We will have to do things
differently, we will have to do things more efficiently, and we will have to be
more imaginative than any other department in Whitehall because I’m not aware
that any other department has set such an ambitious goal,’ he said.
Hunt also told the group of
cross-party MPs that, although he had no firm target for reducing headcount at
the department, there would be ‘considerably fewer employees’ in the future.
DCMS permanent secretary
Jonathan Stephens said there was a budget of around £100m for restructuring the
department, including redundancies. Currently there are around 400 staff posts
that could be subject to review, and around 70 positions are to go in the
current financial year.
Stephens added that ‘natural
wastage’ and voluntary redundancies would be the preferred means of shedding
staff.
But Hunt could not rule out
compulsory redundancies. ‘It is not a reflection of the professionalism of
people at DCMS, for whom I have the highest regard, but it is a reflection of
our priority, which is to protect the front line,’ he said.
The department will also
leave its current headquarters in Cockspur Street, Westminster for cheaper,
smaller premises by the end of the next Spending Review period, Hunt confirmed.
Cutting departmental costs by
half would save £28m a year, Hunt said, while culling quangos could save
another £25m a year. The combined sum amounted to the typical annual grant
given to a major institution such as the British Museum.
Despite the early abolitions
of two non-departmental bodies – the UK Film Council and the Museums, Libraries
and Archives Council – Hunt denied he was an ‘eager assassin’. He told the
committee that he believed in the ‘arm’s-length principle’ and repeated his
pledge not to scrap Arts Council England.
