By Vivienne Russell | 16 July 2014
Whitehall’s Efficiency and Reform Group must continue to improve the way it gathers and collates the evidence for government cost savings, the National Audit Office has said.
The NAO has been critical of some of the ERG’s claims, saying they were not always robustly supported by evidence.
In a report issued today on the savings reported for 2013/14, the watchdog said the ERG had responded well to earlier recommendations, for example improving how it collates construction evidence and standardising the way it calculates pension contributions.
But it also highlighted five areas where the methodologies and processes used by the group to validate savings were less strong. These were commercial models, construction and commercial relationships, major projects and Government Digital Service controls.
‘ERG has undoubtedly achieved significant savings for the taxpayer, as well as generally injecting pace and priority into the efficiency agenda,’ said NAO head Amyas Morse.
‘But it should do more to strengthen its own processes. It should also look to improve its reporting on how the scope of the savings has changed over time.’
