The United Kingdom Treasury is to crowd-source ideas from Public Servants as part of new plans to cut £5.5 billion ($A9.6 billion) of waste.
The Department will launch an Innovation Challenge to gather ideas from bureaucrats on how the Government can reduce waste and improve public services, with winners selected later this year and the best ideas becoming Government policy.
Treasury said a previous Innovation Challenge in 2015 received 22,000 responses with 16 measures implemented.
The challenge is one of several plans announced by the Treasury, including a new committee and a review of quangos (non-Government bodies that receive public funding) aiming to “drive efficiency, effectiveness and economy across Government”.
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has asked Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak to chair the new Efficiency and Value for Money Committee, which will aim to ensure Departments are delivering the highest quality services at the best value, with savings “used to fund vital public services”.
Mr Johnson has tasked the committee with ensuring the five per cent efficiency target set at the 2021 Spending Review is met across Government, as well as scrutinising strategies to prevent fraud and error.
Mr Sunak said the current level of waste across Government was not acceptable.
“This is why we’re doubling down on wasteful spending and launching an efficiency drive to make £5.5 billion worth of savings,” Mr Sunak said.
London, 24 March 2022
