§ Mr. Murphyasked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will set out the principal achievements of Her Majesty's Government within his Department's responsibilities since May 1979.
§ Mr. HayhoeWe have made substantial progress in improving the efficiency and controlling the costs of the Civil Service.
The main achievements are
specific improvements to efficiency, including savings and extra income of £180 million per year and £29 million once-for-all to date, from the 133 departmental scrutinies and six multi-department reviews carried out in association with Lord Rayner;improvements in the Departments' management systems and skills and the launch last year, jointly with the Treasury, of a major initiative on financial management;14,000 different forms reviewed in the last year, 3,600 of them abolished and £2 million saved;efficiency studies and management guidance on controlling costs of common services such as messengers, post and telephones, and stores, yielding savings of around £21 million a year;important reforms in staffing policies and procedures in train, including introduction in 1981 of a new system of succession planning for key posts; anda boost to training at the Civil Service college, particularly training in financial management and information technology.At the same time Civil Service numbers and the resulting wage bill, which have been a Treasury responsibility since 1981, have been substantially reduced.