Evaluation Taskforce awards funding to improve processes

The Evaluation Taskforce has awarded funding to four new projects to help test and evaluate new approaches within government.

It has been announced that up to £1 billion could be saved through modernisation and automation of services. This project involves the use of phone-bots and reducing paper use.

More than £1.2 million has been awarded to teams tackling issues such as cutting costs through digital transformation and mapping the use of electric vehicles.

Minister for the Cabinet Office Jeremy Quin said: "This is a government with innovation at its core and it’s vital that we channel that in the right way, ensuring decisions made by the government are data-driven.

"This funding will help teams drive innovation across government, creating the tools and data departments need to become more efficient and drive value for money. I’m looking forward to seeing the positive impact this will have on public services."

Teams across Whitehall and the What Works Network were invited to place bids for ideas that would test and evaluate the impact of new policies or approaches to delivering public services. To be successful, the bids needed to show how they would provide robust evidence of financial or efficiency savings.

Around £450,000 has gone to work by the Department for Transport investigate how mobile network operator (MNO) data can be used to support initiatives targeting electric vehicle uptake and usage.

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