Jane Hutt, Minister for Finance and Leader of the House
The Invest-to-Save Fund supports organisations involved in public service delivery to make the transition to more efficient, more effective and more sustainable forms of service delivery, helping them to meet the challenges of a difficult settlement.
Last December, I announced that I was allocating over £10 million of Invest-to-Save funding to new public sector improvement proposals. Investing in such proposals has demonstrated that there are different, more cost-effective approaches that can be adopted, without having to compromise on the quality of our public services.
Given the positive progress being made by existing Invest-to-Save projects and the continued demand for such funding, I am today pleased to announce that I have opened the fund to a new round of project proposals and will make a further £11million available for projects seeking funding in 2012-13.
I will mostly direct the latest funding to collaborative projects between organisations, both within and between sectors to further the efficiency and innovation agenda, supporting innovative projects that transform service delivery. By joining-up services we can ensure that everyone has access to efficient, high-quality services while at the same time using the limited funding available in the most effective way.