There has been much discussion over the past few years regarding shared services with the aim of reducing costs and improving the quality of public services. And, we have seen many successes so far across local government with considerable cash savings being made. Sadly though, this is a success which seems to be eludingcentral government.

Last month the National Audit Office criticised a number of central government shared services projects for not delivering sufficient value, believing that the true benefits from implementing shared services have not been realised.