The DCLG has incurred a ‘staggering' proportion of the £5bn of savings the Government predicts it will make this financial year, leading to concerns over an ‘intelligence gap' between Whitehall and councils.

Contributing to the Cabinet Office's Whitehall savings figure, revealed by cabinet secretary, Francis Maude on 16 February, has been the loss of some 43,000 civil service jobs since June 2010 – a 9% reduction in headcount – leaving the civil service at its lowest level since the Second World War.