PDF version
PENS and paper for public servants are costing taxpayers £850million a year.
Astonishing figures released yesterday underline how billions are squandered by Labour.
The Conservatives – who vow to save £6billion in spending if they win Thursday’s election – say the office supplies bill alone could be cut by £238million a year.
Even the Government quango which is supposed to ensure value for money in Whitehall procurement is paying over the odds for a standard 500-sheet ream of A4 photocopier paper, point out the Tories.
And a confusing array of framework deals mean departments barely flex their purchasing power muscle to get value for money.
If savings to the paper bill were applied to the whole office services budget, the Conservatives say the total £2.4billion bill could be slashed by £672million a year – the equivalent of hiring 25,000 more police officers, or cutting 9p duty off every pint of beer and cider sold in Britain.
Tory Cabinet Office spokesman Francis Maude said: “Labour ministers can’t even run an office, let alone a country.”
Government potentially has huge purchasing power, but only half of Whitehall spending last year was done through joint and bulk buying.
The Tories calculate that moving to a single contract could save 28 per cent on the average departmental spend.
Mr Maude said: “Labour’s failure to buy copier paper at a decent price means there is no hope of them delivering complex IT and defence projects at competitive prices.
“There is a clear choice at this election – Conservatives who will ensure value for money, or five more years of Gordon Brown wasting your money.”
The figures follow expert analysis in yesterday’s Daily Express suggesting that well over £100billion a year could be slashed from public spending without damaging service quality if only Britain was efficient as America and Japan.
David Cameron says he will save £1 in every £100 the Government spends, to fund cancellation of Labour’s National Insurance hike, or “jobs tax”, next year.
But the analysis by the European Central Bank suggests Britain could save at least £16 out of every £100.
TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott said: “Other countries show how it can and should be done.
“If economists calculated that there was 16 per cent inefficiency halfway through Mr Brown’s spending spree, it is likely to be closer to 20 per cent now – the size of the Treasury deficit.
“This doesn’t mean any Government can rely on waste savings to solve the national debt after May 6.
“But we can pre-empt a Greek-style bond crisis.”
The Conservative figures showed the average paid in Whitehall for a 500-sheet ream of A4 photocopier paper was £2.08. The least paid was £1.48, by the South West Regional Development Agency.
The Buying Solutions quango – which monitors Whitehall procurement – pays £2.23 a ream, while even its own parent department, the Treasury, pays £1.71.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme, which promotes recycling, pays most of all, at £3.29, followed by the Yorkshire Regional Development Agency at £3.20.
The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency pays £2.40 a ream; the House of Lords £1.65 and the Commons £2.15.
A Labour Party spokesman said last night: “We will continue to improve efficiency in the procurement of goods and services by getting government bodies to club together for bulk buying.
“Looking to the future, across all areas of government, value for money with less waste and less bureaucracy will be a top Labour priority.”
http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/media/2010/05/daily-express-scandal-of-...
http://news.parliament.uk/2010/04/general-election-called-for-6-may/