Speed up spending cuts - watchdog

Government needs to accelerate the pace of change in the way it works to ensure spending cuts over the coming years lead to lasting reductions in the cost of public services, Whitehall's value-for-money watchdog has said.

The National Audit Office (NAO) warned tactics such as freezing staff pay and taking the axe to consultants' contracts will deliver only short-term savings, and argued that the Government must "go further" by redesigning public services so that they operate permanently at lower cost.