The prime minister has clashed with public accounts committee chairman Edward Leigh over the delivery of Whitehall efficiency savings.
Thursday's dispute came as Gordon Brown gave evidence on a range of issues to the Commons liaison committee.
As Leigh raised the issue of avoiding government waste, Brown replied that there would be Whitehall efficiency savings over and above the £25bn as set out in Sir Peter Gershon's efficiency review.
When Leigh countered that "you haven't achieved efficiency gains", Brown immediately replied "I do not accept that – we have achieved Gershon [targets]".
Leigh moved on to questions surrounding existing PFI projects, which he feared would suffer during the current economic climate.
Brown insisted that many projects were going ahead as planned and added that the Treasury would be announcing in the next few days how it would take forward existing schemes.
Education committee chairman Barry Sheerman picked up on Leigh's theme and asked specifically if flagship PFI projects – such as the Building Schools for the Future programme – were in the trouble that witnesses to his committee had suggested they were.
The prime minister said that he had been told that no BSF schools had failed to reach financial closure. He added that half a dozen banks had stated that they were in the market to finance PFI projects.
Sheerman also questioned how the government would encourage the roll-out of apprenticeships in the public sector, with the prime minister replying that the government would fund 35,000 extra public sector apprenticeships this year.
The chairwoman of the transport committee, Louise Ellman, asked if any train operating companies (TOCs) were facing problems given the fall in passenger numbers as a result of the recession.
Brown replied that he hadn't heard directly of problems from any TOCs. He added that the government was, today, announcing £7.5bn investment in new rolling stock.
Questioned on rare fare increases, Brown told the committee that fare increases in 2010 will be based on July 2009's RPI which, he added, "we expect to be low".
Housing finance and house-building preoccupied Phyllis Starkey, the chairwoman of the communities and local government committee.
Asked if he would oversee an increase in the level of funding going into new house-building, Brown replied that "there is a shortage of supply in the medium term".
"It is important to use this downturn to stimulate new build," he added. The government would do this in two ways: firstly, by looking at using existing land with planning permissions to get house building restarted, and secondly getting to a situation where mortgages are more available now than they have been.
Starkey expressed concerns that money recently earmarked for new housing "is not new money but money that has been brought forward". She expressed concern that this was storing up problems for the future by using money now that should be released in the coming years.
Brown replied that it was right to bring forward that money.
The prime minister also told human rights committee chairman Andrew Dismore that a forthcoming Bill of Rights would address the issue of homeowners rights in connection with repossessions.
Asked if the Bill of Rights would be published by Easter, the prime minister stated that the issues are difficult and that this had caused a delay.
Home affairs committee chairman Keith Vaz questioned the usefulness of the Office for National Statistics collecting data regarding the birthplace of workers in the UK who have a legal right to work here. He was also concerned that Brown's statements concerning 'British jobs, for British workers' could be used by the far-right. The prime minister told Vaz that any comment taken out of context could be misleading.
On the government's introduction of a points-based migration system, Brown said that "where people have skills we should welcome that but where there is an area where skills are not needed we should be honest and say that we do not need them".
"The points system will address that," he added.
The prime minister also replied to a question on increased knife crime at times of recession with the statement that "carrying knives in unacceptable".
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd