- Healthcare, homelessness and youth provision to go
under microscope
- Processes that that duplicate work and
spending to be reformed by Chief Secretary to the
Treasury
- Reforms to build on billions of pounds of
efficiencies and savings already found
Wasteful duplication in government will be
rooted out under a new programme of sweeping reviews
into how services are funded.
Reviews, drawing in expertise from across the
public and private sector, will be launched into four key
areas – bringing healthcare out of hospitals,
homelessness, the provision of youth
services and the management and
maintenance of public sector assets.
The reviews will also draw in expertise from across the
public and private sector. Out-of-classroom youth
provision, which clocks in at a bill of over
£1 billion a year, for the government – will
be reviewed to make
a fragmented system spread across multiple
departments and local government for each young
person more efficient and effective.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury said:
"These reviews will scrutinise government programmes to ensure
they improve people's lives while rooting out wasteful spend
from the public sector. We have a duty to taxpayers to make sure
every pound of their money works as hard in government as the
people who earn it.”
Similarly, work will investigate how departments take a
more preventive approach to tackling homelessness –
with over three quarters of government expenditure
on homelessness going to temporary accommodation. People
sleeping rough can go on to use public services more than the
average individual, at a cost of around £14,000 per
person. Building on the cross-government work already
ongoing, the review will identify how these
public services such as the
NHS can work better together to cut
inefficient spending.
As healthcare has become increasingly centred around
hospitals, community, primary care, mental health,
social care and local services have been left working
in silos — driving inefficiency and making the system harder for
patients to navigate. The healthcare review will
highlight these challenges and establish better
how the government can deliver the shift of healthcare back to
communities in a sustainable way across the NHS.
The last Spending Review
increased long-term investment in public
sector assets – delivering at least £10 billion a year
for health, education and justice infrastructure by
2034‑35 and £24 billion between 2026‑27 and 2029‑30
to maintain and improve motorways and local
roads.
The maintenance review will build on these long-term
settlements, ensuring that departments and Ministers have the
information they need to make
effective investment decisions at future Spending
Reviews.
This is a new way of working between departments and the
Treasury. Previously, departments have worked on their own to
find the best solutions and spending plans to issues they face,
with this new approach breaking down government silos and joining
up work to find the best cost-effect solutions for the
public.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury will lead the reviews,
working with relevant Secretaries of State and
Ministers as they identify wasteful spending in their
departments and make recommendations to improve value for money
in these areas. These recommendations will
inform the next Spending Review, which will take
place in 2027.
The Government has already made demonstrable progress in saving
the taxpayer money. At last year's
Spending Review, plans were published that will
deliver nearly £14 billion of technical efficiencies by
2028-29 for the taxpayer. At last year's Budget, the
government then announced a further
£2.8 billion of efficiencies and savings in
2028-29, which will rise to £4.9 billion in
2030-31.
