Spending Challenge ideas to be taken on by Whitehall

The Treasury's Spending Challenge consultation, which allows the public to suggest ideas for tackling the deficit, is closing at the end of the month.

Ideas, many of them from public servants, are being used to help create plans to cut public spending, and at least two large government departments have been ordered to take some of the comments on board for serious study, according to the Independent.

The paper has published eighty of the ideas, which are worth a read. A number of them have not been suggested by politicians or the media, and there are some good ideas:

I work for the Pension Service, where the one thing that angers me more than anything else is the bottled water supplied throughout my department. Water costs less than 0.05p per litre out of the tap.

As a public-sector worker, working with teenage parents, I am regularly invited to conferences run by Capita. I don't attend as they charge me in the region of £300, and speakers are generally other public-sector workers who will share good practice from their area of the country. It should be shared for free.

My husband and I work in the public sector and are constantly frustrated by the fact that equipment and services have to come from a restricted list of suppliers. My husband needed to order a new cutting blade for a piece of printing equipment. From a recommended supplier it cost £120, plus £18 delivery. My husband did a Google search, and found the same thing for £25, plus £1.25 delivery. He was not allowed to order it, as the supplier was not on the list.

There are also a couple of silly ones in the list, such as the idea to force all Manchester United fans to live within ten miles of the Old Trafford ground.

Labour must review Spending Challenge proposals:

George Osbourne has attempted to shut down debate by claiming opponents of his plans do not think there is an issue with the economy, calling them "deficit deniers".

This isn't true, they just oppose the Coalition's proposals for savings.

Now is the time for Labour to look through these ideas and create a list of alternate cuts, ones that do not hit the poor so hard.