Budget to include £800m for new technology to free-up NHS and police time

The Budget will include an £800 million package for technology reforms that will allow for faster access to MRIs and cut admin tasks for police.

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said there is “too much waste in the system” as he announced on Sunday a series of measures to free-up time for those on the front line of public services.

The technology reforms will allow for faster access to MRIs for patients and free up hundreds of thousands of police hours to attend burglaries or incidents of domestic abuse, according to the Chancellor.

As part of the Treasury reforms, police will use drones to assess incidents such as traffic collisions and artificial intelligence (AI) will be deployed to cut scan times by a third.

The department said the changes, due to be in Wednesday’s Budget, have the potential to deliver £1.8 billion worth of benefits to public sector productivity by 2029.

Officials said the move is about reversing the high spending, high tax approach the UK Government adopted to see the country through the coronavirus pandemic and the energy shocks sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “We shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking more spending buys us better public services.

“There is too much waste in the system and we want public servants to get back to doing what matters most: teaching our children, keeping us safe and treating us when we’re sick.

“That’s why our plan is about reaping the rewards of productivity, from faster access to MRIs for patients to hundreds of thousands of police hours freed up to attend burglaries or incidents of domestic abuse.”

In the health sector, the Treasury said that more than 130,000 patients a year, including those waiting for cancer results, can expect