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09 August 2012 10:01
The Government made savings of £5.5 billion from departmental expenditure over the last year.
Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude said the coalition was "determined to go even further" in its aim to "cut the cost of Government".
The cash savings, he stressed, had been independently audited with "no smoke and mirrors", and were the equivalent this year of around £500 for each working household in Britain, the salaries of around 250,000 junior nurses or the cost of around 1.6 million primary school places.
The coalition set up the Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG) based in the Cabinet Office, on taking office 27 months ago, to make "efficiency savings" across Government.
Mr Maude said that a report by retail tycoon Sir Philip Green was "very useful" in underlining the Government was "not getting the savings that your size as a customer would justify," with some parts of Government paying seven times as much for black toner cartridges as other parts.
