Tougher Spending Controls Save Government £140m On ICT

The government says it will have saved £140 million this financial year as a result of more stringent rules on ICT expenditure.

The saving is part of a combined £5 billion reduction in government spending expected this year, according to Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude.

Cost-cutting strategy

New tougher controls on ICT procurement are cited as a key reason behind the £140m figure, with any significant expenditure requiring a thorough business case to prove any improvements are ‘necessary to bring government in line with standard business practices’.

“Our new business-like approach and steely determination to get value for taxpayers’ money means we now expect to make £5 billion in cash savings by the time this financial year is out,” said Maude in a statement. “For the first time, like any large business, we now have an effective operations centre at the heart of government – one that will keep delivering savings for the taxpayer year after year.”

Over £3 billion is reported to have already been saved through various efficiency and reform measures across the government, with the Cabinet Office targeting a £1.25bn increase on the total £3.75 billion saved last year.

Last October, Maude unveiled a broad government ICT cost-cutting strategy which emphasised cloud computing, open source technologies and green IT. The Strategic Implementation Plan also set out plans for the G-Cloud project, which opened today, and ways to optimise expenditure using small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

A Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiative was also recently announced by Liam Maxwell, director of ICT Futures at the Cabinet Office, as a cash-saving measure.

Jiten Karia

Recent Posts

Ericsson To Cut 1,200 Jobs in Sweden Amid ‘Challenging’ Market

Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson blamed “challenging mobile networks market” and “further volume contraction” for job…

15 hours ago

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For $8bn Fraud

Dramatic downfall. Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for masterminding $8bn fraud that…

16 hours ago

Elon Musk Orders FSD Demo For Every Tesla US Sale

Fallout avoidance? Tesla buyers in the US must be shown how to use the FSD…

16 hours ago

Amazon Pumps Another $2.75 Billion Into Anthropic

Amazon completes its $4bn investment into AI firm Anthropic, after providing an additional $2.75bn in…

18 hours ago

The Sustainability of AI

While AI promises unparalleled efficiency, productivity, and innovation, questions regarding its environmental impact loom large.…

21 hours ago

Trump’s Truth Social Makes Successful Market Debut

Shares in Donald Trump’s social media company rose about 16 percent after first day of…

21 hours ago