HC Deb 30 November 1993 vol 233 c926

To achieve this, we have started with a rigorous approach to the Government's administrative costs. Central Government running costs, including paybills, will be frozen at this year's cash level. Pay increases for public sector staff will therefore have to be paid for by greater efficiency or by savings in the cost of running government itself.

However, we have also had to conduct a searching examination of spending on Government programmes. That examination began with the largest spending programme of all, social security.