The Cabinet Office claims to have made savings in procurement of £3.8bn compared to three years ago when the coalition government was elected. It is also claiming savings of £500m as a result of tighter IT spending controls and the shifting of government services onto digital platforms.
In total, the Cabinet Office claims to have achieved savings worth some £10bn, including reduction of waste in construction (£400m), "optimising" the government's property portfolio (£600m), reducing the size of the Civil Service (£2.2bn), and increased employee contributions to public sector pensions (£1.1bn).
The biggest saving, though, has been in procurement, indicating that the government has been overpaying for services for years - especially IT services - including a 65 per cent or £1.56bn reduction in spending on consultants and contractors compared to three years ago.
One of the means by which savings have been achieved is by using the government's collective buying power, said government chief operating officer Stephen Kelly. "Working as a single customer across government puts us in a very powerful position to identify efficiencies and maximise our collective buying power."
The claimed reductions exceed the £8bn target set in 2010 when the Efficiency and Reform Group - a joint Cabinet Office and Treasury initiative - was established.
"Civil servants across government are changing the ways they work and we are on the way to managing our finances like the best-run FTSE-100 businesses... These are popular savings which support Britain's deficit reduction and encourage growth," said Maude.
He continued: "In the first year of this government we saved £3.75bn compared with the year before the last general election. In 2011-2012 we managed £5.5bn. The unprecedented £10bn savings last year show we have defied expectations and accelerated the pace of reform."
"There is a great deal more to do before government is as efficient as it needs to be - that's why in the Spending Round we will find another £5bn of savings as a major contribution to reducing the deficit in 2015 to 2016," added chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander.
