The Chancellor didn’t give much airtime to efficiency savings in his Budget statement yesterday, instead focusing on a steady-as-she-goes package that was, frankly, boring. That appears to have been by design. 

In January, Guido revealed Jeremy Hunt had dispatched Treasury mandarins to finally crack down on woke waste in Whitehall, prompted by Conservative Way Forward’s report showing “politically motivated campaigns” were costing the taxpayer more than £7 billion a year. Nothing on that front in the Budget, despite claims the Treasury were taking it “really seriously”. What happened?

Treasury sources tell Guido that while Hunt “didn’t announce it per se“, a “a review [is] happening now” into where the Treasury can make “obvious savings in central government“, which is coming further down the track. Guido also hears there had been plans to include a few words about government efficiency – and diversity and inclusion spending specifically – in the Budget document yesterday, although they were ultimately removed pending the review. A Treasury source adds it was partly because the savings still need to be “worked out logistically with other departments.”

Of course, Ministers have made it their mission to cut down on waste before. In 2022, when Sajid Javid was still Health Secretary, he vowed to cut down on pointless diversity and inclusion jobs in the NHS. It didn’t do much good – a DHSC source later told Guido it was difficult for government to enforce those kind of top-down changes on NHS management after all. Still, it should be easier for Hunt to get it done within Whitehall…