The Home Office told us that about that half of the planned £354 million of savings will come from commercial savings, such as national purchasing, with the remainder from cost recovery and improved productivity.48 We asked whether there has been any investigation into policing’s purchases of basic services, noting the previous Committee’s work on similar issues in the national health service.49 In written evidence, stakeholders also identified the inefficiency of police forces running separate procurement exercises.50 The Home Office said it is using national purchasing frameworks and seeking to standardise specifications for some equipment, including laptops and vehicles. 44 C&AG’s Report, para 3 45 Q 40 46 Q 70 47 Qq 45, 70; C&AG’s Report, para 2.8 48 Q 70 49 Q 75 50 The Productivity Institute, University of Manchester (IPP0009); Leapwise (IPP0013) 13 It is also working with the Crown Commercial Service on energy purchasing, with 39 forces signed up. However, the Home Office acknowledged that there is no standardisation across the 43 police forces and that it does not know exactly who is doing what. It said it will need up to two years to gather data on the scope for standardisation, the level of variation across forces and whether it was better to purchase nationally, while recognising the benefits of competition between suppliers.51