The ‘Spending Challenge’ website launched in early summer, first inviting contributions from public sector workers before allowing all members of the public to have their say.

HM Treasury officials said the government intends to consider the submitted ideas further before deciding which ones will be included in the Spending Review, planned for release on 20 October.

Chancellor George Osborne has already announced three suggestions that are going to be taken forward, which are: replacing the National Insurance Number Card with a letter, the piloting of an online auction site for second hand government equipment and a ‘“more common sense” approach to the Criminal Record Bureau checks for junior doctors.

Osborne said: “No one idea will solve the problems we face, but taken together they can make a real contribution to reducing the deficit and rebalancing the country’s economy at a crucial time. People’s ideas will have a real impact on the tough decisions ahead”.

The consultation was run using Delib’s Dialogue App.