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The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2015/16.

CCS was established in 2014 as a trading fund and executive agency of the Cabinet Office. Our purpose is to deliver commercial benefits and savings for central government and the wider public sector in the procurement of common goods and services.

We have delivered £521 million of commercial benefits and savings for our customers, exceeding our target of £380 million in 2015/16; and plan to deliver £2 billion worth of customer savings by 2020.

Highlights for the year include:

• £12.8 billion of public sector procurement spend was channelled through our central deals. This included £6.8 billion of central government spend and £6 billion of wider public sector spend
• £282 million of commercial benefits and savings were achieved for government departments
• £138 million of commercial benefits and savings were achieved for the wider public sector (excluding NHS)
• £101 million of commercial benefits and savings were achieved for NHS customers
• 27.1% of central government spend in 2014/15 reached small businesses: 10.9% directly and 16.2% through the supply chain

Specific examples of the savings we have helped our customers achieve include:

• £5 million was saved for 22 police forces on the purchase of 2,800 vehicles – the equivalent of 215 police officers
• £2.2 million was saved for the NHS on their text messaging service – the equivalent of 88 nurses
• £850,000 was saved for the Department of Work and Pensions by extending their records storage contract – the equivalent of 50 benefit case workers
• £750,000 was saved for a group of London borough councils on their postal services – the equivalent of running 4 libraries for a year
• £40,000 was saved for a group of 5 academies on their insurance – the equivalent of 3 teaching assistants.

Malcolm Harrison, Interim Chief Executive, commented:

“Our people have maintained a relentless focus on the delivery of our strategic objectives throughout the course of the year. We have delivered £521 million of commercial benefits and savings for our customers, exceeding our target of £380 million.

Our priorities for 2016/17 will see a continued focus on commercial benefits and savings, and fully implementing our new operating model, which will improve our efficiency. We are also committed to improving customer service and extending our business with the wider public sector. We are well placed to build on our achievements of 2015/16 and make positive strides towards commercial excellence.”