The UK Government claims to have saved £3.75 billion in 10 months as a result of job cuts, marketing savings, computing cutbacks and fewer consultants.

The savings have been confirmed by an independent audit, and further cuts are expected as the government attempts to reduce the deficit.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said the savings were "staggering," but that they were "just scratching the surface" as further cuts are expected.

He added: "Today's figures show that our ambitious targets to cut waste and save money have paid off.

"To put £3.75bn into context, it's equivalent to the salaries of 200,000 junior nurses, or 150,000 secondary school teachers, it could pay for several Whitehall departments, and it's about the same as the revenue derived from one penny of the basic rate of income tax.

"We promised to drive out inefficiency and unjustifiable costs in central government.

"It is these savings, which have been achieved in just 10 months, that have allowed departments to protect essential front line services and jobs."

Marketing spending has been cut by £400million and £870million has been saved by reducing the use of consultants.

"We will continue to seek out and eradicate waste in government, whilst also delivering longer-term programmes of reform to ensure sustainable change and room for growth across the public sector," said Maude.

Projects have been scaled back or cut entirely to rein in spending. Furthermore, high cost spending decisions will now have to be given Maude's approval before going ahead, such as any marketing proposal costing more than £20,000.

Full list of savings:

    • £870m saved by cutting spending on consulting
    • Nearly £500m saved by reducing spend on temporary agency staff
    • £400m saved by cutting marketing spending
    • £360m saved by centralising spend on common goods and services
    • £800m saved from renegotiating deals with some of the largest suppliers to government, equivalent to 6% of a full year of spend with those suppliers
    • £150m saved from 2010-11 budgets for government's major projects, by halting or curtailing spending
    • £300m saved by "applying greater scrutiny" to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expenditure
    • £90m reduction on property expenses by "exerting better control" over lease renewals
    • the equivalent of £300m saved on 2010-2011 salary costs by reducing the size of the civil service by more than 17,000 posts