Cuts also to include £27m from Olympics Delivery Agency and £150m from Labour government’s housing pledge

 

UK chancellor George Osborne has announced that £1.7bn of contracts across all sectors will be delayed or stopped to achieve £6.2bn of savings.

In his breakdown of planned spending cuts revealed today, Osborne announced that savings over 2010/11 will include: “£1.7bn from delaying and stopping contracts and projects, including immediate negotiations to achieve cost reductions from the major suppliers to government”.

Further cuts include £27m from the Olympics Delivery Agency and £150m from the last government’s housing pledge.

Osborne offered a sweetener, however, by announcing that £500m of the savings will be reinvested. Around £170m will be spent on 4,000 social rented homes, which will start on site this year, £50m will go on capital investment at further education colleges, and £150m will be used to fund 50,000 new apprentices in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Other cuts include:

  • £1.15bn in discretionary areas such as consultancy and travel costs
  • £95m by reducing IT spend
  • £170m from reductions in property costs
  • £120m from freezing civil service recruitment
  • £600m from cutting quangos
  • £1.165bn by reducing grants to local authorities.

The cuts are in addition to the re-examination of all spending approvals since 1 January.

 

 

 

 

 

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