The Government Digital Service (GDS) helped to save £339m through its spend controls and approval processes for Whitehall IT projects during 2015/16, according to the Cabinet Office.
The figures are part of a total of £3.3bn of operational savings made through a number of internal measures to improve government procurement, to reduce the Whitehall property estate and by tackling fraud and error.
The savings were assessed by the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA). The GIAA said the GDS savings came from “intervention in departmental digital and technology projects”, but pointed out the figures come from comparing “differences between original and revised, approved plans rather than between original plans and actual spend”.
In other words, the savings identified is money that may have been spent without GDS intervention, rather than a reduction in an amount of money that was already being spent. In the previous financial year, GDS provided £599m of savings.
“GIAA are content with the assertion that GDS Standards Assurance Savings Team savings are identified through controls, cancelled projects and ICT Strategy savings.
