The Dutch cabinet needs to spend more time putting its policies into practice and solving bottlenecks, the national audit office said on Wednesday.

In its traditional review of government spending, the audit office said ministers need to put more time into removing bottlenecks, particularly those facing the defence, finance, health and social affairs ministries.

‘The tax office cannot put through reforms because of the aging IT system. The defence ministry is unable to have enough working equipment to be able to carry out a broad spectrum of tasks,’ the audit office said.

In addition, solving problems with the personal health care budgets needs ‘space and a realistic approach’, the audit office said.

The audit office review is traditionally published on the third Wednesday in May.

‘In many areas within the government, there is friction between political ambition, on the one side, and the availability of time, people and resources on the other,’ the report said.

In his review of the government finances, finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said 2014 was a good year for public finances with both the budget deficit and national debt proving to be lower than expected.

Read the speech (English)