New report from TBI calls for traditional Spending Review process to be scrapped in favour of new ‘always on’ approach.
Lead author and ex-Number 10 Data Director Dr Laura Gilbert calls out a system that enables significant amounts of public money to be wasted and urges immediate reform.
‘Reimagining the Spending Review’ recommends replacing the process with smarter, responsive monitoring, cutting more projects and funding the ones that work.
The Government should scrap the traditional Spending Review and replace it with a smarter, more responsive approach, according to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI).
Published today, ‘Reimagining the Spending Review: A New Model for Smarter Public Spending’ is led by Dr Laura Gilbert, TBI’s Senior Director for AI, and formerly Director of Data Science at Number 10, alongside Alexander Iosad, Jeegar Kakkad and Eleni Arzoglou.
Under the traditional spending review process, departments spend thousands of hours preparing submissions, often in the dark about competing bids, while allocations rely heavily on subjective judgement. Once funding is allocated, government has limited visibility into whether initiatives are succeeding or failing, and little ability to course-correct.
As a result, ineffective projects go on being funded, not enough money is available for what’s needed, and public trust is undermined.
While governments have long aspired to make public spending more efficient, new technology has unlocked far greater opportunity. Recent innovations from the Treasury, such as internal AI tools and shared dashboards, show promising progress. However, the impact of these changes is hampered by deeper structural problems.
TBI’s report argues that a more fundamental redesign harnessing technology is needed to meet the challenges of today.
Dr Laura Gilbert, lead author of the report, said:
“When a company spends money, it understands that that money is limited. If what you’re spending the money on isn’t working, the company should demand for you to stop and spend it on something else that drives the outcomes you want.
“The way the traditional Spending Review process is set up prevents this level of accountability in Government. As a result, Whitehall can waste huge amounts of money – our money - on things that don't work, and keep doing it again.
“We cannot afford to operate like this when the technology to fix it is there.”
At the heart of the report are three key recommendations:
Scrap the traditional Spending Review: replace the rigid, cyclical process of budget reviews with a more dynamic approach that aligns spending with delivery and outcomes, not outdated assumptions.
Move to real-time tracking: use modern technology to monitor government programmes continuously, making it easier to spot what’s delivering value and what isn’t, and to communicate this to taxpayers.
Spend on what works, cut what doesn’t: shift from funding by habit to funding by evidence. Programmes that deliver results should be scaled up; those that don’t should be stopped.
The paper sets out a roadmap to reform the system before the next Spending Review, proposing a new approach grounded in real-time data and quarterly performance check-ins. This ‘always on’ monitoring, similar in style to private sector money management, would enable Government to cull more projects, faster, when they’re not working, and re-allocate money to better performing, more needed projects.
The report also recommends shorter, sharper ‘strategic reviews’ every two years, allowing government to continue planning for the medium-term, while remaining agile.
By freeing civil servants from the bureaucratic burden of outdated processes, and equipping them with real-time insights into programme effectiveness, the government can unlock better outcomes for people and restore public trust in how money is spent.
“We owe it to taxpayers to make sure every pound counts,” said Dr Gilbert.
“This isn’t about spending more or less. It’s about spending better—on what works, and on what improves people’s lives.”