§ 11. Mr. RooneyTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will make a statement on the work of the public sector team. [148775]
§ Mr. StringerThe public sector team was set up within the Cabinet Offices's Regulatory Impact Unit in November 1999. Its broad remit is to reduce bureaucracy and red tape in the public sector.
In little over a year the team has, in partnership with relevant Government Departments and other stakeholders, taken action to reduce the paperwork burden on the police and head teachers. The estimated savings are 187,000 hours of police time every year, which is equivalent to 100 police officers' standard working hours—employing that many additional officers would cost around £5.5 million; and 4.5 million hours per year across the whole schools system. This equates to over 200 hours every year for a typical school.
The team will shortly be publishing the interim outcomes of its project on reducing GP paperwork.