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.
“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.
Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson blamed “challenging mobile networks market” and “further volume contraction” for job…
Dramatic downfall. Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for masterminding $8bn fraud that…
Fallout avoidance? Tesla buyers in the US must be shown how to use the FSD…
Amazon completes its $4bn investment into AI firm Anthropic, after providing an additional $2.75bn in…
While AI promises unparalleled efficiency, productivity, and innovation, questions regarding its environmental impact loom large.…
Shares in Donald Trump’s social media company rose about 16 percent after first day of…