Vince Cable

Commenting on today's Public Accounts Committee report on improving government efficiency, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable MP said: "This document confirms that the Treasury and other government departments need to be far more open and transparent about the whole efficiency programme.

"Efficiency savings are notoriously difficult to measure but Gordon Brown's insistence on micromanaging the whole process has only made matters worse.

"The fact that the majority of the projects lacked baselines suggests that the Chancellor sees this primarily as a PR exercise.