§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if she will commission an independent audit of the activities of her Department and its sponsored agencies and non-departmental bodies between 1997–98 and 2003–04 with the purpose of establishing what proportion of the total departmental spending was inefficient over that period; [185458]
(2) what proportion of the reductions in core civil service posts in her Department by 2007–08 will be relocated to sponsored agencies in the regions. [185500]
§ Ms HewittSir Peter Gershon's report on his review of public sector efficiency, "Releasing Resources to the Front Line", sets out agreed efficiency targets for all Government Departments including DTI.
Procurement
DTI will aim to achieve savings by improving procurement through a combination of developing and implementing better purchasing practice, making better use of resources within technical and economic research, centralising marketing operations and moving to e-procurement, and savings on rent increases and building service costs by rationalising DTI's estate. This rationalisation involves reducing headquarters in London from six to three buildings over the Spending Review period.
290WBack Office Rationalisation and Abolition of Posts
My Department hits developed plans that will enable it to deliver mor:. efficiently DTI's priorities and responsibilities, as reflected in the spending plans announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer last week. These plans will drive forward efficiencies in all areas of my Department's work, including:
the rationalisation and streamlining of all our 'back office' services, including the processing of routine financial and personnel work and a reduction in the number of office support service posts following rationalisation of the Department's London estate from six buildings to three; andthe adoption of a new approach to policy work involving the more effective prioritisation of policy projects and the centralised handling of routine policy enquiries and correspondence.In conjunction with our estate rationalisation strategy, staff will also operate within a flexible workspace arrangement whereby there will be eight desks available for every 10 staff.
Business Support
DTI has conducted a review of its Business Support schemes ahead of the Spending Review with a view to working to clear high-level strategic objectives, increasing value created through the investment of taxpayers' funds, rigorous monitoring and evaluation, and improving the customer experience in dealing with DTI. Over 100 schemes have been rationalised into 10 new products, the List one of which will be introduced in 2005. The effectiveness of the new products and resultant efficiency savings will be realised over the Spending Review period.
Savings in the order of £20 million are projected by the end of the Spending Review period, as a result of closing inefficient schemes.
In addition, DTI is rationalising its use of third party contractors to deliver the new Business Support products. By consolidation of the contractor portfolio and more effective procurement. further cost savings of approximately £4 million a year are anticipated over the Spending Review period as the DTI's commitment to legacy schemes is exhausted. The level of support provided to business is expected to remain unchanged at around £500 million per annum.
Agencies and NDPBs
All of DTI's agencies and non-departmental public bodies are tasked with delivering efficiency gains over the Spending Review 2004 period. Over the Spending Review period, DTI expects the agencies and NDPBs to achieve some £15 million savings, the majority of which is cashable. It is anticipated that these savings will be achieved through a combination of continued delivery and increased output within a climate of reduced funding, reduced estate expenditure and reduced unit cost.
As Companies House, Patent Office are trading funds, and NWML is a net funded agency, they do not appear on DTI's Expenditure Limit and their savings are not claimed against the Department's 2.5 per cent. annual efficiency savings target. These bodies are, however, still expected to generate efficiency gains which 291W they intend to achieve through a number of measures i.e. e-delivery, reduced staff costs, and increased output/reduced processing times.
Other than a very small number of Office of Science and Technology posts moving to the Research Councils in Swindon, there are no plans to meet DTI staff reduction targets by relocating posts from the core Department to sponsored agencies
Audit of inefficient spend
DTI is committed to ensuring that all aspects of the Department, including its agencies and non-departmental bodies operate efficiently both now and going forward. We have just completed an efficiency project, reviewing efficiency in DTI, which was scrutinised by the Gershon Review. We continually review our activities as part of annual business planning to deliver greater value for money. We therefore have no plan to commission an in-depth audit of past activities—to do so would be an inefficient use of resources.