FDA welcomes budget commitment to invest more in public services - 16 March 2005

Today the FDA welcomed the Chancellor?s continued commitment in his budget to further investment in public services. FDA general secretary Jonathan Baume said: "We welcome the Chancellor's continued commitment to improving public services and to maintaining a high level of investment. Clearly the efficiency agenda in Government is on track. We are working closely with departments on its implementation, and they deserve credit for the way in which they have begun to deliver real savings. "We sympathise with the Chancellor's plans to streamline 35 agencies into nine which we believe will create a more efficient regulatory framework, although we will want to ensure that the consequences for individual staff are handled sensitively and without any compulsory redundancies."

Notes for Editors
1. The FDA is the trade union and professional body representing the UK's 13,000 senior civil and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians, accountants, special advisers, government lawyers, diplomats, crown prosecutors and NHS managers.

2. The FDA should be referred to simply as 'The FDA' and can be described as 'the senior civil and public servants' union' or something similar. We hope you will avoid calling us the 'First Division Association' as this is not our name and causes all sorts of confusion with football clubs and the like. Thank you!

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