Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) recent steps he has taken and (b) mechanisms he has introduced to increase the efficiency of work between government departments.

Improving efficiency, both across Government and between government departments, is central to the work of the Cabinet Office. By 2014/15 the Government had saved £18.6 billion through efficiency and reform, and tackling fraud, error and uncollected debt (against a 2009/10 baseline). This includes saving:

• £6.1bn by improving how government buys goods, and services.

• Generating £1.8bn net capital receipts and saving £750 million from reducing the annual running cost of the estate.

• £4.6bn by addressing waste and inefficiency in construction and reducing costs in major projects.

• £700m through reducing losses from fraud and error.

In autumn 2015 the Spending Review announced a range of additional measures to further improve effect and joint working between departments. These include co-locating Civil Servants though the Government Hubs programme, and introducing shared ICT though Common Technology Services and the Common Platforms Programme.