The 14 cross government functions work across Government by forming a network for collaboration within departments and departments, supporting the efficient and effective delivery of policy and services.

This publication sets out that in Financial Year (FY) 2022/23, the government functions delivered £6.5 billion of audited savings (cash releasing and non-cash releasing).

The Technical Note lists individual savings, showing the methodologies used by the respective functions in calculating these savings. Savings outlined only illustrate part of the broader benefits delivered by the functions.

The Technical Note also indicates the levels of assurance given by the Government Internal Audit Agency, and describes how the government is responding to recommendations made by both the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee.

Functions support efficient and effective formulation of policy, and delivery of outcomes and services. Through their operations across departments and related organisations, they deliver financial and non-financial benefits across government.

Savings fall into three broad areas:

• £2.2 billion in audited cash-releasing savings delivered by central government functional teams: for example £131 million was saved through the Public Sector Fraud Authority’s data matching across 1,100 organisations across the UK;
• £4.2 billion in audited cash-releasing savings delivered by functional teams embedded in departments, with support and governance provided by the central functional teams. For example £2.3 billion was saved through Debt Management activity in HMRC; and
• £135 million in audited non cash-releasing savings, delivered by central government functional teams. For example £83 million was saved through the optimised use of the Grants Functional Standard and through Spotlight in the Government Grants Management Function.

These efficiencies and savings are published in order to demonstrate the government’s transparency and accountability commitment to delivering value from taxpayers’ money.

Audited cash-releasing savings delivered by central government function teams

A summary of total savings by the function team is set out below. Further information, including a list of individual audited savings, can be found in the Technical Note.

Function (Team)	Team activity	FY 2022/23 Savings
Government Counter Fraud Function	The centre of the Government Counter Fraud Function is now based in the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority, which works with Counter Fraud Function teams across government to detect and prevent fraud. This includes working to understand and mitigate fraud risks within organisations and fighting economic crime. Savings include the use of data sharing tools and analysis to highlight anomalies that may indicate fraud, enabling targeted work by counter fraud experts.	£311 million*
Digital, Data and Technology Function (Performance and Assurance)	The Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) function supports the delivery of digital services, the use and sharing of data and the building and deployment of technology across government. The Performance and Assurance team achieves efficiencies by ensuring that digital services and technology infrastructure are delivered in accordance with best practice while achieving significant savings through simpler to use, well delivered and legally compliant services.	£1,198 million
Government Commercial Function (Markets, Sourcing and Suppliers)	The Government Commercial Function (GCF) supports the procurement of goods and services for the government. The Markets, Sourcing and Suppliers Team focuses on ensuring the right policies are in place to partner with government’s strategic suppliers. Savings are achieved through negotiating down the cost of supply, improving the quality of service, mitigating risk, enabling additional cost avoidance and facilitating continuous improvement of the service.	£265 million
Government Commercial Function (Complex Transactions Team)	The Complex Transactions Team (CTT) within the Government Commercial Function supports the negotiation and procurement of goods and services by providing commercial expertise to deliver better commercial results within departments.  These savings have been delivered by supporting departments to resolve legal disputes, negotiating down supplier’s price increases, and increasing output/capacity without increasing resource expenditure.	£155 million
Government Communication Service	The Government Communication Service (GCS) uses a range of communication tools to support ministers’ priorities, enabling the efficient and effective delivery of public services. GCS works with departmental and arm’s-length bodies’ communication teams to identify opportunities for savings, innovation and join-up. Savings include efficiencies delivered through the advertising, marketing and communications (AMC) spending control and restructuring the central GCS team, reducing headcount by 55%.	£145 million
Government Grants Management Function	The Government Grants Management Function (GGMF) ensures the effectiveness of grant funding and the efficiency of grants administration across government.  These savings have been delivered by the Spotlight due diligence tool providing a centralised service for bank verification checks, as opposed to users needing to procure individual digital solutions at higher rates.	£2 million*
Government Property Function (Office of Government Property)	The Government Property Function drives the strategy for the whole government estate and manages a variety of complex estate portfolios and transformation programmes to support the efficiency and reform of public services. The Government Property Function’s Efficiency & Disposals Programme provides central oversight and assurance of the Government Property Strategy commitments to develop a pipeline of disposals, aiming to generate gross capital receipts of £500m per annum (£1.5bn in SR21) and also deliver £500m property operating cost savings from the estate (over SR21).	£121 million*
Total		£2,204 million*

(* Figures marked with an asterisk include gross figures, as it was not possible to calculate costs in all cases.)

Audited cash-releasing savings delivered by function teams embedded in departments

Function	Team Activity	Department	FY 2022/23 Savings
Government Counter Fraud Function	DWP created a range of new initiatives to prevent/detect fraud with particular focus on Universal Credit case cleanse and correction activity	DWP	£730 million
Government Debt Management Function (now based in HM Treasury)	The Government Debt Management Function (GDMF) works to manage and resolve outstanding debt owed to Government. The GDMF Functional Centre works with departments to provide expertise and strategic leadership to improve the management of debt owed to Government. All debt benefits and additional yield (efficiency savings) are delivered through the GDMF and are additional debt collections over and above business- as-usual activity. This includes tackling aged debt and fairly collecting hard-to-recover debt through government and / or the private sector. The GDMF Functional Centre also ensures data quality, analyses and assures the data and identifies agreed savings against strict methodology for each debt measure to ensure robust and consistent actuals across the Government.	HMRC	£2,322 million*
Government Debt Management Function (now based in HM Treasury)	The Government Debt Management Function (GDMF) works to manage and resolve outstanding debt owed to Government. The GDMF Functional Centre works with departments to provide expertise and strategic leadership to improve the management of debt owed to Government. All debt benefits and additional yield (efficiency savings) are delivered through the GDMF and are additional debt collections over and above business- as-usual activity. This includes tackling aged debt and fairly collecting hard-to-recover debt through government and / or the private sector. The GDMF Functional Centre also ensures data quality, analyses and assures the data and identifies agreed savings against strict methodology for each debt measure to ensure robust and consistent actuals across the Government.	DWP	£16 million*
Government Property Function	The Office of Government Property (OGP) has established an Efficiency & Disposals Programme to ensure effective oversight of property disposals. These are detailed in the Disposals section of the State of the Estate report.	8 departments	£1,105 million*
Total			£4,173 million*

(* Figures marked with an asterisk include gross figures, as it was not possible to calculate costs in all cases.)

Audited Non-cash releasing savings delivered by central government function teams

Function	FY 2022/23 Savings
Government Grants Management Function	£83-160 million**
Government Commercial Function (Complex Transactions Team)	£52 million
Total	£135 million

** Due to the nature of the Value for Money saving, a range of percentage estimates need to be applied to the total grant funding population. The total figure uses the lower bound.