The British government plans to sell off old office furniture on an online auction website as part of its efforts to curb a huge budget deficit.
The Treasury has set up a website inviting people to submit ideas on how to save money, receiving more than 100,000 suggestions.
In a statement today, it said it would take three of the ideas on board including a proposal to auction off spare office furniture on an eBay-style website.
"The government will now pilot the use of an online auction site to sell on surplus and second-hand government equipment," it said. "The website will allow all government departments to sell on old or unused equipment so that the money made can be reinvested in public services."
In the same spirit, the Treasury said it would also reduce the number of criminal record checks for junior doctors in a measure that could save up to £1 million a year.
The third idea is to distribute national insurance numbers with a letter rather than a plastic card which would also help save up to a million pounds a year.
The Spending Challenge website lists thousands of other suggestions including one to "stop wasting money on employing so many heads of departments and so called consultants".
The BBC quoted the GMB union as describing the idea as a trick designed to give the impression of support for spending cuts.
Chancellor George Osborne said the plan is to tap "the experience of those working in the frontline of public services" and that other ideas were now being considered.
"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," he said in the statement. "People's ideas will have a real impact on the tough decisions ahead."
Reuters