THE government has appointed Dan Davies to head a team which aims to deliver substantial cost savings in government over the next three years.
Mr Davies, formerly business change manager, is now the Transforming Government programme director.
He will be in charge of a central team, resourced from within government, who will work closely with departments to deliver the savings.
The government is losing out on millions of pounds of income due to the UK changing its VAT revenue sharing agreement with the Island.
Several initiatives are being progressed as part of the package to rebalance government finances.
These include the introduction of shared service centres, reductions in staff costs and better use of technology.
Chief Minister Tony Brown MHK said: "The work currently being undertaken will move us towards our target of rebalancing public finances by the year 2014/15.
"In a time of financial constraint it is vital that government takes a careful and planned approach in order to safeguard frontline services and ensure it is well-equipped to face the future."
The introduction of shared services for certain back-office support functions has taken another step forward in recent weeks, with staff employed in finance positions across government being brought together to create a new centre of excellence.
They will shortly be followed by a team of officers who will form a central office of human resources responsible for recruitment, redeployment and employee relations across the public service.
The move to shared services, supported by the Council of Ministers, aims to reduce administration costs and generate improvements through consistency of approach, economies of scale and the sharing of best practice.
A central procurement team is already in place and generating cost savings, while plans to integrate Estates Services will be implemented over five years due to the complexity of this area.
Chief Secretary Will Greenhow said: "As an organisation we are in a period of transition and major changes are required to modernise and streamline our way of working in line with new realities. We simply cannot afford to stand still.
"The most important part of any change is the people involved and I want all departments to work in partnership with Dan and his team to ensure we emerge in a position of strength.
"The Transforming Government programme has my full support and will help us to keep moving forward by identifying further efficiencies and ways to improve service delivery."
In addition to reducing bureaucracy and generating cost savings, the Transforming Government programme is also seeking to refocus the provision of services around the needs of the people who use them.
The 'Customer First' initiative will include the joined-up delivery of public services via the Government website, community one-stop shop counters and a central telephone call centre.
Mr Davies said: "The focus is on ensuring that the customer is at the heart of everything we do, and that we leverage our investment in technology to deliver public services in the most efficient ways possible.
"We shouldn't underestimate the scale of the challenge ahead, but there is a real appetite for change both inside and outside of the public sector which will help in driving this work forwards."
