§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many accounting systems are in use in central Government; and what plans he has to reduce the number of accounting systems across central Government. [165514]
§ Mr. BoatengIt is the responsibility of each body in central Government to maintain appropriate accounting systems. No central record is kept, but it is likely that most of these bodies will operate different systems.
The Office of Government Commerce are currently leading a project to produce a standard specification for accounting systems for central civil Government that will include the requirement for future systems to be usable by more than one organisation. More widely, the Efficiency Review is working with departments to develop proposals for consideration in the Spending Review to simplify and standardise back office functions and the systems that support them.