Summary

Description

Five key areas of spend have been affected with freezes on: -All new ICT spend above £5 million or over £1 million for systems that support administration including finance, HR or procurement -Advertising and Marketing campaigns that require Cabinet Office approval, specifically those above £25,000 up to 18 Feb 2011, and above £100,000 from 19 Feb 2011 onwards -All new consultancy spend unless it is an operational necessity. Where spend is proposed, apporpriate cabinet office approval is required in cases where expenditure is above £20,000 and -new contracts are expected to exceed 9 months, -existing contracts are extended beyond 9 months, -expenditure is procurement related expenditure -Civil Service recruitment, except in important front line and business critical areas; and -The signing of any new property leases or lease extensions; the non-exercise of lease break options; any new property acquisitions (including those made through a Private Finance Initiative provider); new build developments, sale and leaseback; and any freehold sales as part of national property controls.