Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to improve (a) productivity across the Civil Service and (b) efficient use of office space.

Matthew Hancock

Improving the efficiency and productivity of the public sector is central to the work of the Cabinet Office. By 2014/15 the Government had saved £18.6 billion through efficiency and reform, and tackling fraud, error and uncollected debt (against a 2009/10 baseline).

The Government Hubs programme will reduce the government office estate from around 800 buildings to around 200 by 2023 and generate savings of over £2bn over ten years.

This is being supported by a smart working revolution to transform how and where civil servants work. In line with what many private sector organisations have achieved, we expect this to increase productivity, reduce costs, improve wellbeing, and contribute to wider objectives such as localism, sustainability, and reducing pressure on the transport system.