The coalition government has claimed that ICT and consultancy cuts have helped contribute to £1bn of efficiency savings made so far with a forecast £2bn to come in its first year in power.

Of the £1bn, £500m has come from a moratorium in five key areas of discretionary spend: consulting, ICT, recruitment, marketing and property.

The cuts are part of the government’s plan to reduce the nation’s budget deficit and include the renegotiating of contracts with major suppliers.

Some 50 per cent less was spent on consulting compared to the same period last year, saving £300m, while £402m in savings came from stopping major projects, such as abolishing ID cards.

“This government is leaving no stone unturned in cutting unnecessary and excessive expenditure to protect jobs and the frontline services on which people depend,” said Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude.

“This reform programme has required a culture change in government, as the system is not set up to operate efficiently.”

The Cabinet Office also published details of ICT projects over £1m across government as well as the Operational Efficiency Programme Benchmarking Report for April 2009 to May 2010.

Maude argued that the report shows how bad the quality of basic management information collected by the previous government was.

“There is no excuse for government not to produce the same standards of management information achieved by the best in the private sector,” he added.

“Robust data is the foundation of government acting in a more business-like manner and operating as efficiently as possible.”

Source: http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2273999/cabinet-office-ict-cuts#ixzz18ef11dhx