Defra to cut costs as Darling slashes budget

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Budget reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to making £11bn of savings a year by 2012/13 from efficiency and streamlining the centre of Government.

Defra’s share of this will be a requirement to deliver savings of £194m by that date. It has announced it will meet this commitment through a range of activities:

• A reduction in consultancy spend will deliver savings of £25 million by 2012/13.
• The department’s facilities management contract will save £9m/year in 2012/13 compared to 2008/09 through economies of scale and more flexible use of Defra’s facilities. These savings will rise to £11m/year by 2013/14.
• Defra is also developing plans to save £100m in finance, human resources, ICT and procurement administration costs by stopping low-priority activities such as some IT projects and improving efficiency. About 85 per cent of this saving will be made via Defra’s arms-length bodies.

Defra Secretary Hilary Benn said: “Defra and its delivery bodies are committed to doing their bit to achieve these substantial and vital savings in public spending.”

He insisted the savings would be made in a way that will have the ‘least possible impact on the people who rely on Defra and its agencies and on what we can achieve as a department’.

The emphasis would be on finding more efficient and effective ways of working, he said.

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