Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Karl McCartney Excerpts
Wednesday 7th November 2012

(12 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Maude of Horsham Portrait Mr Maude
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I think that every Minister in every Government I have ever known or observed would say that there is scope for much better joined-up activity between Departments. As a result of the civil service reform plan that we are now pushing through, with the strong support of the leadership of the civil service, we should have much greater interchange between Departments to break down the silos that partly cause the problem to which the hon. Gentleman rightly refers.

Karl McCartney Portrait Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)
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T4. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on the progress of the efficiency and reform group in driving savings across Government Departments?

Chloe Smith Portrait The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Miss Chloe Smith)
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After the last general election, we set up that group to deal with the monstrous waste that the Labour Government presided over. It is a tribute to the hard work of civil servants here and across Whitehall that we saved taxpayers £3.75 billion in the first year and £5.5 billion last year. We are accelerating that work and targeting £8 billion this year.