Dear Chief Secretary We are pleased to present the final report of the Operational Efficiency Programme. It draws together the products of almost a year of sustained work to research, analyse and design solutions to the ongoing challenges of improving value for money across the public sector. The areas we have examined are diverse, representing the Government's determination to consider efficiency in the round and in innovative ways. We would like to thank all those who contributed to the Programme's development. The private sector never stops seeking greater efficiency in the ways that it purchases and provides services, and neither should the Government. We have seen excellent practice in many organisations, and our report highlights many good examples. However, there is scope to go further and we have each set out an ambitious set of recommendations to increase the value for money the public sector achieves from its activities and from some of its most valuable assets - the insight and energy of its people, as well as its bricks and mortar. While compiling the report, it has become clear that many of the incentives for better value for money cut across the areas we were asked to investigate. This is why this final report also recommends changes to the accountability and performance management frameworks, in order to embed improvements in value for money over the long term. However, each of us worked independently on our specific areas of expertise, and our conclusions and recommendations in these areas are our own. We were asked to challenge the level of the Government's ambition on efficiency, and accordingly the recommendations we present will require sustained action over the coming years, with few easy wins. The economic downturn has only sharpened the sense that concrete action, both in Whitehall and across the wider public sector, will be necessary to protect services and ensure their continuing improvement in the coming period. Sir Michael Bichard Lord Carter of Coles Gerry Grimstone Martin Jay Dr Martin Read |