[1][a] Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, then Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister respectively, appointed Peter Gershon, at that time the head of the Office of Government Commerce, to review operations across all public services and make recommendations regarding expenditure and efficiency.
His report recommended making savings for Financial Year 2005–6, to be achieved through dramatic changes to the organisation of each government department and automating their work patterns, in order to 'release' resources from the public sector budget that was then approximately £520bn.
[3] The effect of these objectives has been for all government departments to agree reductions on their long-term budgets, and then work out how to fulfill these challenging promises without crippling their existing obligations and service.
Relocations recommended by Gershon have resulted in considerable loss of expertise, for example at the UK's Office For National Statistics, which has been criticized by the Chair of the Treasury Select committee.
[4][5] The team that supported Sir Peter Gershon in this work was drawn from a number of Government departments and consultancy organisations:[6]