The Treasury will complete an affordability assessment before any project is permitted to make any tender or contracting decisions. Paper shredders aren’t the most attractive of machines, so you would probably prefer one that won’t take up too much space. In fact, you may want to choose a model that will squeeze into a cupboard when not in use. The smallest shredder we’ve tested is a dinky 24x19x15cm. There should be a clear statement that operational and capital expenditure by line entities is and will continue to be subject to real-time oversight and direction from the centre of government. In addition to normal HM Treasury controls, this oversight is effected through the operation of updated Cabinet Office spend controls and through the - also updated - mandates of the central functional leaders. DEC report recommendation 8, to create a government data application centre of excellence, should be adopted. It should report to the GCDO, and be closely coordinated with the renewed and revitalised GDS. It should have a wide mandate, including the power to review government data sets.

including any contingency – in terms of costs, benefits, timescales, or level of risk, which informed the accounting officer’s previous approval.

How we tested

Controls enable government to operate in a much more holistic and joined-up way. They can deliver IT systems that are compatible and interoperable; common terms and conditions; buildings with shared spaces that promote real-time collaboration. These are softer benefits than the hard cash savings, but just as real.

Once the central organisation has gained sufficient capability, it should begin to work with the commercial function to operate the facilities management spend control and build oversight of all government facilities management contracts. All central government departments and entities should be required by year end to furnish FEDG with comprehensive data on their uncollected long-dated debt and their plan to reduce it. Credit-card slot: A credit-card shredder can be a handy way of securely getting rid of those old cards. If you're recycling, be sure to separate your cards from the paper shreddings when disposing of them. Recharging for services provided by the central functions should in general be replaced by a simple allocation of “head office costs” to the line departments and entities. ‘Hard charging’ should be permitted only in rare and specific cases, and only with the explicit consent of Ministers at the centre of government. The issue could be fudged during the Coalition Government without unduly constraining the operation of spend controls because of the imperative of financial stringency together with robust cross-government ministerial support. But it should now be resolved.Consideration should be given to creating a “licence to operate” model, with every civil servant holding a skills passport to record their skills, training and specialisms. It is also clear that there are significant variations in HR practice in different parts of government. I recommend:

The control on consultancy was introduced because before 2010 the use of external consultants had become excessive, which was expensive and wasteful. It was also demoralising for mainstream civil servants to have the sense that as soon as something difficult emerged the task would be given to external consultants. In far too many places consultants were becoming so embedded in departments and officials were rotated so frequently, that the consultants had become the indispensable institutional memory. I recommend consultancy thresholds should be set at: Ministers should consider whether it would be better a) to press ahead with on-boarding the rest of central government’s office estate into GPA or b) to rely on the property controls to drive efficiencies and enable value to be maximised through creating redevelopment opportunities. This review should also assess whether the GPA should be part of a single property organisation, close to Cabinet Office ministers and the COO, which exercises general oversight of the property function across the whole of Central Government and across all types of property, while exercising direct control over the government’s office estate.There seem to be several documents that contain elements of the IPA’s mandate. I have been told that these are incremental, but this has led to confusion. I recommend: This cannot be done overnight, nor should all of it be attempted at once. The introduction of central procurement will take at least three years, and must be carefully sequenced. I recommend: