National Audit Office calls for improved efficiency reports

Departments are struggling to accurately track the scale of efficiency savings

Pressure is mounting on public sector IT directors to improve reporting systems after a National Audit Office (NAO) study published late last week claimed departments are struggling to accurately track the scale of efficiency savings.

Progress in Improving Government Efficiency said the public sector is moving towards delivering the £21.5bn in efficiency savings targeted in the Gershon Review, but warned that risks surrounding IT projects and timelags in reporting mean government claims that £4.7bn of savings have already been realised are only provisional.

The NAO recommended that the government tackle this lack of visibility over savings by improving the quality of efficiency and productivity data. "Public sector managers need to be able to base their decisions on clear and timely data which link costs to specific outputs," the report said.

A spokesman for the NAO recommended wider investment in the kind of business intelligence style reporting systems adopted in the private sector. "Better data on efficiency and productivity is needed urgently," he said. "There are actions the government can take in the short term to improve measurements, but there's no substitute for investment in IT systems that can give managers timely data."