The figures were released by Government to a panel of politicians responsible for scrutinising the Government Plan, after they stated that it was “unclear what will be done to ensure £120m of recurring efficiencies across 2020 to 2024 and what impact on public services these have had.”
The Government first set a target to make £100m in ‘savings’ in 2019 – at the time, it was stated that services would not be cut, but that money would be saved by finding cheaper ways to deliver them and reducing “duplication”.
A full plan for achieving that was published later in the year – it included new charges, higher education course fee hikes, workforce reduction, and a clampdown on business trips.
In the latest Government Plan, released last year, a broader plan to make up £120m in efficiencies between 2020-2024 was revealed, with staffing measures making up around a fifth of the overall savings target of £20m by the end of 2022 – around 50 staff, according to Chief Operating Officer John Quinn.
Pictured: The Chief Minister and Treasury Minister responded with the figures after questions from the panel scrutinising the Government plan.
Addressing whether the savings identified so far were “one-offs” or ones that would continue to buffer finances in years to come, the Chief Minister and Treasury Minister said this week: “Of the savings achieved to date, 97.7% are recurring.
“The non-recurring savings (£1.3m) and the shortfall (£3.7m), namely £5m, will be carried forward and added to the target in 2022.”
They said that these numbers remain subject to external audit review and may change.