MPs sceptical if new Office for Value for Money is value for money
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Leading MPs have questioned whether the new Office for Value for Money will actually save the taxpayer any money. In the October budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the new department to help the government "realise the benefits from every pound of public spending".
However, a report published by the cross-party Treasury Select Committee has heavily criticised the Office for Value for Money (OVM) and questioned how it would have "a meaningful impact on driving efficiencies in departments". The committee's chair, Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, said she thinks the initiative "may be something of a red herring".
Politics latest: Was Starmer snubbed by Trump?. In the report, MPs said the OVM's independent chair, accountant David Goldstone, a former chief operating officer at the Ministry of Defence, is only contracted for a year and as of December - two months in - there were only 12 full-time staff, not the promised 20.
It was revealed in November Mr Goldstone is being paid £950 a day from existing Civil Service budgets and is expected to work a monthly average of a day a week, meaning he will have an annual salary of £50,000. If the post was full-time, it would be £240,000 for the year.
The committee also said there has been no estimate of how much the OVM will cost, including the cost of any external consultants it is considering using. The MPs said the OVM is duplicating what other departments are already doing, with seven examples of teams and processes within Whitehall ensuring public spending decisions are value for money - and said there are more.
