Since 2004, central government has sought to cut its costs through the sharing of back-office functions between departments. This work has been led by the Cabinet Office, which owns and oversees the Shared Services strategy.
In 2018, the Cabinet Office published a new ten-year strategy for shared services which had three overarching objectives:
- delivering value and efficiency by moving to cloud-based technology;
- standardising processes and data and
- meeting end-user needs.
The Cabinet Office refreshed this strategy in March 2021 and aims to have five cloud-based shared service centres by 2028 at the latest.
This inquiry is based on the NAO investigation into Government shared services. In January the Committee will question senior officials at the Cabinet Office and the Department for Work and Pensions, which is trying to use shared services to deliver benefits better and more economically
The Committee will examine whether the government’s shared services strategy is on track to deliver, including:
- what progress the government has made on shared services
- whether the right conditions are in place for the government to deliver its proposed efficiencies and savings, and
- what future challenges the government faces.
If you have evidence on these questions, please submit it here by 6pm on Sunday 8 January 2023. Please have a look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that has been published elsewhere.
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