Extra £3bn Govt Savings Planned

Gordon Brown has outlined plans to trim £12bn from the Government's budget over the next four years.

He said savings plans had increased by £3bn, in a move squarely targeted at high earning public sector workers.

The Prime Minister said these senior civil servants would be "named and shamed" in a bid to bolster efficiency.

Mr Brown suggested other "efficiency savings" would be made by implementing online school reports and crime maps.

Labour has committed itself to halving the current budget deficit within four years.

The latest announcement comes ahead of Wednesday's pre-Budget report, the last before next year's general election.

Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to reveal that annual borrowing has topped £175bn.

Tories have accused the government of not being straight about the need for more sweeping cuts.

Speaking in London today, Mr Brown said government employees had identified areas where around £3bn could be saved.

This is in addition to savings highlighted in the last budget.

Around half of this will be generated by streamlining central government, the Prime Minister said.

The government has identified 4,300 senior civil servants potentially earning "over-generous" salaries, compared with 3,100 in the mid-1990s.

All new civil service jobs with salaries above £150,000 will now have to be approved by the Treasury.

Details on public sector workers under direct ministerial control currently earning that amount will be published.

The Senior Salaries Review Body has been tasked with looking at all employees earning over £150,000.

Mr Brown said: "Money which should be spent on health, on schools, on policing and on social services is, in some cases, going on excessive salaries and unjustified bonuses, far beyond the expectation of the majority of workers.

"This culture of excess must change and will change."

(PR/BMcc)