Spending watchdog says smarter government can find huge savings for better public services

Britain is wasting tens of billions of pounds on badly run projects, cold war-era IT systems and crumbling, poorly maintained infrastructure, parliament’s spending watchdog will say on Tuesday.

Gareth Davies, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), will argue the government could save vast sums if it addresses maintenance backlogs and replaces out-of-date IT.