Trio of efficiency experts drafted in to mobilise review of spending
THE government has appointed cost-cutting stalwarts Sir Peter Gershon, Dr Martin Read and Lucy Neville-Rolfe to advise on tackling waste in public services, the Cabinet Office announced yesterday.
The trio will form part of the Efficiency and Reform Group which is charged with finding savings in procurement, property and workforce costs.
All three have advised Whitehall on various issues. Gershon was the first chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce, another money-saving body, and is currently the chairman of Tate & Lyle. Neville-Rolfe is an executive director at Tesco and previously worked as a civil servant.
Read worked on an efficiency report published before the election, and was chief executive at Logica until 2007. He is also a non-executive director at Invensys, Aegis and Lloyd’s of London.
Sir Peter Gershon, who will lead on looking at procurement issues, said: “Whilst tackling the budget deficit is a challenge, I am convinced that by bringing experts together and harnessing the talents of the public sector we can start to make improvements immediately.”