“Overall, the Audit Office found that the reporting of efficiencies was not comprehensive, transparent or meaningful.”
As an Irish News report noted today, the Northern Ireland Audit Office has released a report examining “the delivery of £1,600 million in reported efficiency savings by Northern Ireland government departments between 2008 and 2011.” I don’t have time to delve into the detail in the report [pdf file 1.2mb], but here are the main findings noted in the associated press release. The measurement of departmental efficiencies It is important that all planned efficiency savings are capable of being measured. …