MPs have warned that the government may not be able to carry out measures laid out in the Budget to improve the efficiency of IT across the public sector.

As part of the last Budget, a review by former Logica chief executive Martin Read found £3.2bn of annual savings to be made in public sector IT spend.

But a report from the Treasury select committee published yesterday warns that progress is not being made towards making the savings.

"We are concerned that these efficiencies will require considerable co-operation between departments to yield the full savings identified in the review," says the report.

"We have yet to see evidence that the necessary structures are in place to facilitate such co–operation and ask the government in its response to this report to outline the practical steps taken to date."

The government has recently taken steps “to ensure delivery of the potential savings identified” in Read's review by establishing a Value for Money Review Group.

The new group will consider the role of non-executive board members in respect of value for money, designating a minister responsible for championing value for money within each department and establish a key leadership role for the Ministerial Committee on Public Services and Public Expenditure.

Financial secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms also told the committee recently that the Treasury was also looking to the private sector for help in making the efficiencies, a measure the committee is wary of.

"While the private sector has much to offer in exercises of this kind, its assistance is often poorly specified and procured," says the report.

The MPs recommend instead efficiency training for politicians and a greater emphasis on empowering staff.

The committee also strongly recommends the creation of data collection systems to accurately measure efficiencies made, echoing a similar call from the National Audit Office (NAO).

"It appears that, time and time again, the establishment of data collection systems
needed to validate savings is being initiated after efficiency programmes are launched," says the report.

"To ensure that only true efficiencies are captured and reported, it is important that they are measured appropriately and accurately."

An NAO interim report about the previous Gershon review efficiency programme highlighted serious problems in measuring efficiency and as a result the NAO did not audit the final savings.