§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what cost savings have been made in her Department since the introduction of the Information Technology procurement Centre of Excellence; and how these were calculated. [151042]
§ Alun MichaelA Centre of Excellence was formally established within Defra in June 2003 to integrate the essential functions which underpin the successful delivery of all types of acquisition based programmes and projects. As cost benefits will not accrue until improvements start to take effect, it is too early to measure cost savings. All Centres of Excellence are currently developing future plans, and as part of this process measurement of savings will be defined and reported.