To eliminate waste at the Home Office, Yvette Cooper established her own Elon Musk-style team. Contracts that are thought to be an abuse of taxpayer funds have already begun to be frozen by the Home Secretary's "DOGE" section.Mr. Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which has been reorganizing the US civil service, serves as its model. According to government insiders, the unit is already considering reducing the employment of outside experts and will "scrutinize and oversee every penny." According to insiders, costly "away days" that entail renting out outside locations are also probably going to be prohibited. The action follows the department's decision to host a civil servants' event at a lavish ballroom in central London last month. According to a source, "The Government owns a lot of spaces across Whitehall." These might be utilized in place of paying to rent outside spaces.Insiders stated that costly "away days" that entail renting out venues are also probably going to be prohibited. The action was taken after the department hosted a civil servants' event last month at a lavish ballroom in central London. "The Government owns a lot of spaces across Whitehall," a source stated. Instead than paying to hire outside venues, these can be utilized. Every week, the DOGE unit will review all of the contracts the department intends to approve and scrutinize those that seem wasteful. It will be led by Damian McBride, a seasoned political bruiser and former Gordon Brown top adviser, and Home Office minister Lord Hanson.The unit was set up after Ms Cooper found the department had earmarked £3 million over the next three years for digital graphics and filming from a Soho-based PR agency, as well as £100,000 for leadership training from Deloitte.

The planned contracts were the ‘last straw’, sources said, and Ms Cooper ordered both to be paused. There is growing pressure from the Treasury for Cabinet ministers to find savings in their departments. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to see her fiscal headroom slashed prior to next month’s Budget, raising the likelihood of public-sector cuts.

Lord Hanson has already conducted two spending reviews that identified millions of pounds of savings, which were redirected to support neighbourhood policing. Previously, only contracts over £5 million would be sent for sign-off from officials to ministers or their advisers. 

But now, any contract of any value will need to be signed off by the DOGE team, which held its first meeting last Wednesday, according to sources.It is already looking at a ban on the use of external headhunters by the Home Office when filling departmental roles, and plans to crack down on managers ‘splurging’ at the end of a financial year to ‘use up’ unspent money.

A source said Lord Hanson wanted to cut down on this culture, adding: ‘We are living in fiscally straitened times. We are trying to drive much better planning and management.’Labour MP Jake Richards, who sits on the Home Affairs select committee, said: ‘It’s right the Home Secretary is getting a grip so that more money can be directed towards the Government’s plan for more police and secure borders.’