Government Efficiency

 

Government Efficiency

Reducing government’s spending has been one of the chief minister’s main priorities in the past year.

Most departments are set to receive uplifts of 2% for pay and 1% for non-pay as part of this year’s Budget, which Treasury says aligns with the drive for greater efficiency across government.

However, some departments are expected to see slightly higher uplifts to cover increased or new services.

For example, the Department of Education Sport and Culture’s budget is going up by 5.5% and the Department of Home Affairs by 3%.

Meanwhile the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture’s annual budget will only increase by 0.88%.

Digitising and automating processes in order to achieve the greater efficiency across government will benefit from investment in the Transformation Fund totalling £5.3 million.

Scrutiny panels will continue to meet with individual departments regularly to deal with any potential overspends there and then, rather than leaving them to the end of the financial year.