Nigel Evans, Member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley, has today heavily criticised the Government for the amount it has spent reorganising its departments and agencies in the last four years. According to the National Audit Office the Government has spent £780 million since the 2005 elections and added that it was impossible to demonstrate that the changes made represented value for money. Mr Evans said, “The fact is that this is money that could be spent better elsewhere. I am sure the people of the Ribble Valley would rather have seen that money contribute towards Clitheroe Community Hospital or even making sure that the roads were gritted over Christmas. “£780 million in four years is outrageous and tells you everything you need to know about the Government. Branding matters more than performance – why face a problem when you can simply rename the department?! “Two of the new departments created since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in 2007 - the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills - lasted less than two years. “The National Audit office has said that these changes do not represent value for money and are “unsatisfactory”. I would go further and say that they are symptomatic of a Government that has forgotten the value of money.
”We must make sure that every penny spent by the Government is spent well. The Ribble Valley would benefit from money towards local NHS services, the local transport network and better access to broadband to name just a few. Spending £780 million on wasteful Whitehall reorganisations is an utter misuse of people’s hard earned money.”
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