Despite the gloom during the run-up to next week’s government Spending Review, I’m going to offer a more positive suggestion on this topic.  

 Sir Philip Green’s critical report (http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/10/12/243306/Philip-Green-review-highlights-39crazy-decisions39-on-government-IT.htm) on government spending wastage seemed to be little more than headline grabbing to me initially.  You don’t need to be one of the UK’s best regarded business people to point out the inefficiencies in one of the largest and most diverse organizations in Europe.  Of course there’s wastage and everything possible should be done to curb that both in these constrained economic times and in a kinder economic climate.

 This is no doubt part of the Government turning the heat on public sector ahead of the Spending Review. However, in one particular sense, the Green report does give us some hope.

 It’s generally accepted that there will be deep cuts in funding on October 20.  But, whatever form these cuts take, be they quango bonfires or mass redundancies, it could be years before real savings are delivered, as the restructuring costs, pension liabilities and disruption to services, become apparent.  

 Sir Philip’s report may have been something of a turkey shoot but it is clear he thinks real savings could be engineered by smarter buying and working practices. Even if we accept that many public sector organisations are often tied into long-term leases, facilities management contracts and telecoms supply agreements, there is widespread evidence that areas of the public sector, particularly local government, are building smarter work practices. There is significant adoption of mobile working and procuring more standardized ICT platforms that leads to benefits such as free calls on a network.  This isn’t a revolution but it is an example of real changes being made.  Many public organisations realised long ago the on-going need to reduce costs and started investigating practical answers. The Green report seems similarly pragmatic.

 Engineered across the public sector, smarter practices and incremental changes will in time deliver real and, critically, sustainable savings. They will be one of the key areas to support deficit reduction.  And these practical strategies could just inspire public sector workforces to further rethink the way they provide services at much lower cost.... more than the deep structural changes the Coalition feels it must make to cut the deficit within the lifetime of this Parliament.