| Updated:
Keir Starmer’s new value for money office might be a waste of money, an influential group of MPs have warned in a sceptical report.
The newly-established Office for Value for Money (OVfM), which Labour pledged to set up ahead of the election, is supposed to improve government competitiveness and crackdown on waste.
But concerns have been raised about the new cost-saving unit, which is part of the Treasury and was launched by Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the October Budget, over unclear benefits for the taxpayer and the risk of duplication.
The office has a lack of resources, is intended to be time-limited, and is at risk of repeating work being done elsewhere in government, a new report by the Treasury select committee has warned.
Sceptical MPs have expressed worries that the OVfM chairman David Goldstone – who is also a non-executive director of HS1 and was chief executive of parliament’s restoration and renewal project – is only contracted into the post for a year.
The unit only had 12 full-time members of staff in December, the report found, with MPs warning it was hard to see how it would have a meaningful impact on driving efficiencies.
Chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier said the committee had “concluded the OVfM is an understaffed, poorly defined organisation which has been set up with a vague remit and no clear plan to measure its effectiveness.
“All of which leads me to feel this initiative may be something of a red herring.”
Several other government organisations focused on delivering value for money already exist, the report also noted.
These include the National Audit Office, with a £106m budget and over 960 staff; the Cabinet Office’s Evaluation Taskforce; the Green Book, which is Treasury guidance for departments on appraising policies and projects; the Efficiency Framework; and the Public Value Framework.
And the report recommended that while the OVfM is a “temporary addition”, it should explain “how it will interact with existing organisations and frameworks… to avoid unnecessary duplication and to utilise existing expertise”.
Dame Meg added: “The Treasury needs to share far more information about what this small team will actually achieve for the taxpayer which cannot be done elsewhere.
“It must also be transparent about how it will operate and how it will assess its effectiveness.”
The committee is also urging the government to publish more details on how the unit will scrutinise departments’ investment proposals and evaluate value for money, as well as how much the government will spend on the office itself, including any external consultants.
The Treasury and the Cabinet Office have been contacted for comment.
