Departmental Cost Effectiveness

Mr. Todd
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to implement the efficiency recommendations within the Operational Efficiency Programme; and if he will make a statement.

Barbara Follett
My Department is fully engaged in delivering the Operational Efficiency Programme’s (OEP) agenda and is harnessing the support of our arm’s length bodies to do so.

As recommended by the OEP report I have been appointed VfM Minister for the Department.

The Department has made good progress in considering the key benchmarks to drive performance improvement in back office functions as recommended in the OEP report and is awaiting the publication of that information. It is also well engaged with the collaborative procurement agenda, and has established its own Collaborative Procurement Forum. My Department is represented on the OGC’s collaborative procurement steering group which reviews this type of activity in the wider public sector, including the local authorities.