Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Simon Kirby and Lord Maude of Horsham

Wednesday 7th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

We can, of course, build appropriate levels of transparency into contracts when services are contracted out. That process was taken a lot further by the previous Government, so it is not a feature of the coalition Government. I will pass on the hon. Gentleman’s concern to my right and hon. Friends in the Ministry of Justice.

[Simon Kirby (Brighton, Kemptown) (Con)]

T3. Will the Minister update the House on the launch of gov.uk and the savings he expects to make?

[Mr Maude]

We published our digital strategy yesterday and launched gov.uk recently. We will make significant savings—gov.uk will save £36 million and, ultimately, when all the Departments migrate over to it, between £50 million and £70 million a year, and that is just to provide a much better service for citizens. As more and more of the transactions that people undertake with Government are moved online, we expect to save nearly £2 billion a year, and that is for a better service for the consumer.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Simon Kirby and Lord Maude of Horsham

Wednesday 9th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

We are committed to cutting the number of public bodies to increase accountability and cut costs. In future, each public body will have to meet one of three tests—does it perform a technical function, does it need to be politically impartial or does it act independently to establish facts? The Prime Minister has written to Cabinet colleagues asking them to apply those tests rigorously to the public bodies within their area of responsibility. I will be meeting colleagues in the coming weeks to take the review forward, and I expect to publish the outcome in the autumn with a view to introducing a public bodies Bill later this year.

[Simon Kirby]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his answer, and I welcome him to the Dispatch Box. Given the Government’s clear policy on localism, will he ensure that the regional development agency quango, SEEDA—the South East England Development Agency—is rapidly dismantled and that its powers and decisions are handed back to the local authorities to which those powers have always properly belonged?

[Mr Maude]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his kind remarks. It is very good to see him here. He is a close neighbour in Sussex and he makes a very good point. The Government will engage in discussions with local partners, including local authorities and local business organisations, to work out with them in respect of each RDA the best way forward. I suspect that he and I have the same sort of concerns about the way in which SEEDA has operated.