Cuts Watch #158: DirectGov

28 Jul 2010, by Nicola Smith in Cuts Watch

Last week, the Prime Minister issued a written Ministerial statement on machinery of Government changes. It stated that Directgov would be moving from DWP to the Cabinet Office and that further details on these changes would be available in a written report that would be placed in the House of Commons Library. We have now seen a copy of this report (which does not yet appear to be available online), which states that Direct Gov currently employs 172 staff, and that:

“DirectGov funding will be reduced by a third over the Spending Review period, together with the funding for the digital teams based in the Cabinet Office.”

Given that the Government is keen to move to online services delivery as a means to save money, these cuts seem particularly short sighted.