Civil servants will be allowed just two taxpayer-funded electronic devices under a new "gadget limit" enforced by the government after the number of iPads used by officials in a department doubled in six years. The limit was introduced following a splurge on pricey electronics at taxpayer expense - with the number of iPads used in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) rising from 3,000 to 6,000 since 2019. The number of iPhones used by the same government workers also jumped from 18,000 to 27,000 in the same timespan, The Telegraph reported.
Mary Creagh, parliamentary under-secretary of state for nature, reportedly brought the new measures in following a review of waste in DEFRA, as part of a wider government crackdown on bloated bureaucracy. "Although it's important that civil servants have the appropriate tools, the Conservatives irresponsibly handed out tens of thousands of iPads and iPhones without limit or even knowledge, using taxpayers' money," she said. "This is money that should be going into fixing our broken NHS, restoring nature and putting police on our streets."
DEFRA, including off-shoot bodies the Environment Agency, Ofwat and the National Forest Company, employs around 33,000 civil servants and is thought to currently boast about 70,000 electronic devices, including phones, iPads and computers. That already adds up to just over two devices per person - making it unclear just how effective the new limit will be.
It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced plans to cut civil service running costs by 15% at the weekend, suggesting that the workforce had "increased massively" during the pandemic and hadn't been scaled back since.
Ms Reeves' other plans to curb government spending and plug a £22 billion "black hole" left by the Tories have drawn widespread criticism, including from within her own party - especially plans to cut welfare spending, slash the aid budget and hike taxes on employers and landowners.
The government is expected to tell departments including DEFRA to cut their adminstrative budgets by 15%, which could save over £2 billion a year by 2029/30.
The chancellor told Sky News that civil service cuts would come from "the back office functions, the administrative and bureaucracy functions".
She will lay out her spring statement on Wednesday - during which she has pledged not to raise taxes, despite figures showing a rise in government borrowing in February to £10.7 billion, £4.2 billion more than was forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
DEFRA has been contacted for comment.
