To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the working estimate is of the cash value of local government's contribution to the Operational Efficiency Programme's target of £8 billion of efficiency savings by 2012-13; and whether the £8 billion of annual savings are cumulative by 2012-13.

Budget 2010 provided an update on the £8 billion of Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) savings and the £3 billion cross-cutting savings by 2012-13. Details of the proportion of these savings contributed by local government are available at:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1516900

The £8 billion annual OEP savings are savings to be delivered by 2012-13, against a baseline year of 2010-11. These are not cumulative savings. More detail on OEP savings numbers is available at:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/oep_final_report_210409_pu728.pdf