Cash will be invested in information technology to boost government efficiency, the finance minister pledged yesterday.Curtis Dickinson made several references to the need for more effective ways of working in his Budget speech.He told the House of Assembly that “significant work” needed to be done to streamline government processes and improve relationships between government workers and taxpayers.The minister said: “One only need look at the Department of Immigration to see how the use of technology and collaboration with private-sector stakeholders have improved processing times for immigration services.“In this vein, the Government will be making additional funds available for significant investments in information technology with the goal of making Government work better and be more responsive to the needs of our citizens.”The Efficiency Committee, set up last year to look at ways to save public money, recommended a review of the Information and Digital Technologies Department and the establishment of an IT governance policy.Mr Dickinson said the suggestions had been adopted and the Government was creating a centralised IT programme “to ensure a more co-ordinated, efficient and effective system for the acquisition and maintenance of IT equipment, software and applications”.He added that other recommendations from the Efficiency Committee had been referred to ministries and departments for “further review and implementation”.Mr Dickinson said that a backlog of unadjudicated stamp duty on property sales had decreased after the Office of the Tax Commissioner was strengthened.He added that the number of people working for Government had declined from 4,470 in December 2016 to 4,446 in December 2019.Mr Dickinson said: “Contrary to the narrative espoused by the various component parts of the Opposition, we have been successful in making the Government more efficient, while keeping a firm lid on our headcount in Government.“We have increased headcount where it matters, in the areas of education, healthcare and social services, while reducing it in other areas.”He added: “This government is committed to tackling the challenge of making government more efficient and more responsive to its citizens.“The expressions of constructive criticism of how government works, or does not work, have not fallen on deaf ears.”