§ 20. Mr. Thurnhamasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has plans to make further savings to reduce the projected total running costs of his Department in 1984–85.
§ Sir Keith JosephWork is in hand in several areas to ensure that the Department is run as economically and efficiently as possible. This includes application of new technology, which should yield significant further manpower savings by 1988; development of a financial management information system in line with the principles of EMI to facilitate better control and accountability; and efficiency studies of common service operations. The current manpower targets for the Department do not provide for any further reduction in total staff numbers because staff economies planned in some areas will be balanced by an expansion of Her Majesty's Inspectorate, which has been authorised to support the Government's policies to raise standards in education. For this reason it is unlikely that it will prove possible to reduce total running costs below the supply estimate for 1984–85.