All government departments will see their administration budgets cut from 2008 onwards, Stephen Timms, chief secretary to the Treasury, has announced.
In a speech at the Govnet Expo conference, Timms said that even though the government’s comprehensive spending review was not complete he had already decided to reduce the amount of cash available for administration.
Having frozen spending on administration when the review kicked off, Timms said pressures to cut the amount of cash flooding out of the government’s coffers had forced him to go one step further with a nominal reduction in those budgets.
“Efficiency sometimes requires tough choices, but it is the friend of public service,” he said.
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“We have to be able to give taxpayers confidence that the resources they are contributing to fund public services are being used to the best possible effect.
“Only in that way will we able to win the argument for the resources which enable strong, high quality public services.”
