Latest news with #OVfM
BBC News
12-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Treasury's Value for Money body targets asylum accommodation
Treasury advisers tasked with finding government waste have identified spending on accommodation for people such as asylum seekers as their top Office for Value for Money (OVfM), which has 15 members of staff and reports directly to the chancellor, was launched in a Treasury response to a BBC Freedom of Information request revealed that as of last month the team had not started scrutinising any investment documents released on Tuesday showed the first two areas it will investigate are government spending on short-term accommodation and multi-billion pound so-called "mega projects" such as HS2. The OVfM is aiming to cut departmental spending by £4bn annually starting this previously said the "hit team" would ensure that "every penny of taxpayers' money is spent wisely".Concerns have been raised by both Conservative and Labour ministers in recent years about how much public money goes on short-term accommodation Treasury says the Home Office spent £2.3bn on hotels for asylum seekers in government money was spent on accommodation for veterans, care leavers, survivors of domestic abuse, victims of modern slavery and those fleeing Institute for Public Policy Research think tank reported in 2024 that per asylum seeker, costs had increased by 141% to £41,000 last year - up from £17,000 in in government question whether departments signing separate accommodation contracts get the best Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England, has said that "uncoordinated" procurement of accommodation has "driven up local accommodation costs".It says this has left "large numbers of properties void in areas where the demand from those cohorts is lower than supply".The OVfM's investigation into accommodation costs will involve the Home Office, Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice. Mega projects The OVfM 's chair David Goldstone will not be able to participate in the investigation into the "mega projects", because of his previous senior roles with HS2 and the Submarine Delivery Goldstone, who was also involved in the financing of the London Olympics and Parliament's long-delayed Restoration and Renewal project, is being paid more than £50,000 for an average of one to two days a week's was hired on a one-year contract as a direct ministerial appointment, meaning the usual civil service recruitment procedures didn't have to be has said his job was to give "direct advice" to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones about how to save money in June's Spending Street was forced to defend his appointment after he was linked with a string of high-profile projects that went over Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride told the BBC the office "has yet again been shown to be a complete waste of money".He accused the government of "treating the taxpayer like a piggy bank".Earlier this year, Parliament's Treasury Select Committee criticised the office as an "understaffed, poorly defined organisation".Dame Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, added that the team had been "set up with a vague remit and no clear plan to measure its effectiveness".The Treasury has said the OVfM will ask every government department to find at least 1% efficiency savings, equivalent to around £ will be included in the 5% of savings that Rachel Reeves has asked ministers to identify. Documents published alongside the Budget said the office would be "undertaking value-for-money studies in specific high-risk areas of cross-departmental spending and scrutinising investment proposals".Earlier this year, BBC News used a Freedom of Information request to ask what specific high-risk areas and investment proposals the team had looked Treasury's response said it did not hold any information about specific investment proposals because the office would "decide which investment proposals to scrutinise after receiving initial proposals from departments as part of the Spending Review".One key area the office is expected to look at is where multiple government departments could be doubling up on it has been suggested that the OVfM could itself be guilty of a report published in January, the Treasury Select Committee noted that the government already "uses a range of existing frameworks to safeguard value for money". Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Reeves to press ahead with Value for Money office despite ‘risking taxpayer cash'
Rachel Reeves is set to push ahead with controversial plans to create an Office for Value for Money (OVfM) despite warnings from MPs that it risks wasting taxpayer money. The Chancellor is forging ahead with the new taxpayer-backed body in the hope it will help the Government root out £4bn in cost savings a year. The Treasury said in a report on Tuesday that the OVfM will begin by prioritising how to stem the spiralling costs of housing asylum seekers, while also scrutinising spending on so-called 'mega-projects'. It comes after the Treasury Committee criticised the plans in January over fear the unit will not have a 'meaningful impact'. Labour's Dame Meg Hillier, warned at the time that OVfM 'has been set up with a vague remit and no clear plan to measure its effectiveness', describing it as an 'understaffed, poorly-defined organisation'. In response to the committee's criticism, the Treasury said even small improvements in the budgets for mega projects had the potential to create 'significant savings' for the public purse. It said the OVfM also has the potential to cut the billions of pounds spent on temporary accommodation for asylum seekers. The Home Office paid out £2.3bn on hotels and short-term accommodation for asylum seekers last year, while local authorities paid out a further £1.6bn, the report said. The new cost-cutting unit will have a staff of around 15 officials between offices in London and Darlington and be led by David Goldstone, the former chief operating officer of the Ministry of Defence. Mr Goldstone's appointment has already been mired in controversy after it emerged he will be paid £950 a day for chairing the body. On a full-time basis, his pay would be equivalent to a salary of £247,000 a year. In his new position, Mr Goldstone will also continue to hold his seats as a non-executive director on the boards of the Submarine Delivery Agency and HS2. However, conflicts of interest rules mean he will be required to recuse himself from discussions with the boards of either organisation. Mr Goldstone is set to work at the OVfM on a part-time basis for an initial 12-month period, providing private advice to the Chancellor and Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In response to the Treasury's report on Tuesday, Dame Hillier said: 'As always with these initiatives, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, but we will closely hold the Treasury to the letter and spirit of the transparency commitments made today.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
