Former Treasury minister David Gauke has called for a new Office for Spending Evaluation to prioritise ‘productive’ spending on public services.
Mr Gauke, a former Treasury chief secretary and works and pensions secretary, said that day-to-day spending on ‘palliative’ services like social care, health and pensions had outstripped capital investment in services like housing, infrastructure and technology, which can reduce demand in the long-term.
On website Conservative Home, he wrote: ‘If we want to reduce the demand for future Government spending, we need to prioritise current Government spending on those areas that will help do so.
'In other words, increase the proportion of spending that can be genuinely described as investment.’
Mr Gauke said an independent Office for Spending Evaluation could categorise spending ‘on the basis of how productive it is,’ adding: ‘New institutional pressure towards spending more on the long term (and less on the short term) has an important contribution to make in reducing the demand for Government.’
This article was originally published by The MJ (£).
