Rachel Reeves wants to drive efficiency savings as part of spending review – departments are used to the challenge

Experienced Whitehall officials would have been forgiven for experiencing a sense of deja vu when listening to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, this month as she laid out her plans to drive efficiencies from the civil service as part of her spending review.

“The previous government allowed millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to go to waste on poor value for money projects,” she said, as she told departments to draw up plans for 5% efficiency savings across their budgets.