Government: Savings

Lord Eden of Winton Excerpts

Thursday 24th June 2010 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Eden of Winton]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what savings are being made in the administration of Government.

[The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon)]

My Lords, the Government have announced savings in the current financial year of £6.2 billion, of which £360 million will be made in the administration budgets of central government departments, and £400 million will be made in the administrative costs of quangos. The Government have also announced in the Budget £3.3 billion of savings from freezing public sector pay for two years from 2011-12 for those earning above £21,000. A portion of these savings will be made within administration budgets. The Government are committed to reducing the administrative costs of Whitehall and of arm’s-length bodies by at least one-third. Further details and spending plans will be set out at the spending review on 20 October.

[Lord Eden of Winton]

That was a good Answer. I suspect that there are masses of people like me who are fed up with the monitoring, hectoring and intrusion by government agencies and quangos. Can my noble friend confirm that every department has been required critically to examine the justification of and the value for money of every activity in which they are engaged? Can he confirm that they have been given a clear timetable by which to report, and is he able to say what will be the likely impact on front-line services of any subsequent cutback?

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I want to read some words that my noble friend may recognise:

“I am most concerned about the people who are hardest hit ... They have been trying to deal with their own responsibilities themselves, and … to take the burden off the State and look after themselves. The wasteful money-spending policy of the Socialist Government has virtually ruined their little nest eggs”.—[Official Report, Commons, 13/3/55; cols. 2158-59.]

Those are the words of my noble friend in another place some 55 years ago, so I applaud him for the consistency of his concern that the size of the public sector be reined in. It reminds your Lordships that such reining in has, regrettably, had to be done in the wake of successive Labour Governments. Therefore, this time round, I can absolutely confirm everything that my noble friend asked for. In particular, we will ensure that departments completely meet their commitments on reducing admin spend. This, as I said, will be done by a cut of at least one-third, which is committed so far. That is a starting point and we may look to go further.