The public sector, including the Cabinet Office and the Treasury, has come under criticism from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), with a report saying that they “failed to achieve best value for taxpayers”.

The report identified key weaknesses in the current system, despite praise for the move to centralise procurement. The report identified that independence in departments for spending decisions meant that they were reluctant to give power to a centralised system, which in turn resulted in incomplete procurement data, hindering the Government Procurement Service.

The report also said that the government still had room to improve, when encouraging SMEs to bid for outsourced services, despite recent measures.

Margaret Hodge, PAC chairwoman, said: “The centre of government should be more forceful, rather than simply relying on encouragement and persuasion to get departments to alter their behaviour.

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