One of the biggest public sector construction and business change projects in recent years – the £1.9bn ($3.3bn) merger of 1,500 employment and social security offices to form an 800-strong network of Jobcentre Plus facilities – has been a marked success, parliament’s public spending watchdog said on Wednesday.

Since the programme started in 2002 almost all the planned offices had been opened, with considerable savings against the original budget, said the Commons’ public accounts committee.