Dame Antonia Romeo, the cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, has published her objectives for the coming year, the first such publication in more than a decade.
The newly-published document sets out Romeo's responsibilities and objectives, and a series of actions accompanying each objective, for 2026-27, as agreed by the prime minister, with the aim of demonstrating accountability and transparency.
The actions include refreshing governance arrangements for the day-to-day management of the civil service, building trust in the state and its capability, reforming the Cabinet Office to be a leaner, more agile strategic centre, and updating the civil service code.
Cab sec and permanent secretary objectives were published for the first time in 2012 to increase the accountability of the civil service, but during the three years they were published they came in for plenty of criticism – whether for being too complex, too vague, involving too many separate aims, or being published too late in the year. As it happens, one of the perm secs whose objectives were published in 2012 was Keir Starmer, who was then the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, and is now, of course, the PM.
The publication of the transparency documents came to a halt after David Cameron's departure as PM in 2016.
CSW has asked the Cabinet Office if it plans to publish perm sec objectives for 2026-27 alongside the cab sec document.
Romeo's objectives
Published on GOV.UK on Monday, the document says Romeo is responsible for:
- Leading official delivery of the government’s and prime minister’s priorities in support of the government
- Acting as the prime minister’s principal policy adviser
- Supporting proper and effective cabinet government and decision-making
- Reforming the civil service so that it is recognised for excellence in delivery, innovation and improved productivity
- Leading an impartial, curious and engaged civil service, with a culture of pride that comes from high performance.
It sets out five objectives related to these responsibilities, with accompanying actions.
These are:
Objective 1: Lead official delivery of the government’s and prime minister’s priorities in support of the government
Actions:
- Work with and hold permanent secretaries to account for delivering the prime minister’s and government’s agenda, setting clear expectations and supporting high performance, to drive execution and impact.
- Ensure effective policy-making capability, and delivery plans and architecture, are in place in departments to drive government priorities with rigour and pace.
- Strengthen the immediate delivery support to the prime minister, reform the Cabinet Office to be a leaner, more agile strategic centre, and ensure strong integration across economic, domestic, international and national security priorities.
- Engage network of businesses and the private and other sectors to support the government’s pro-growth agenda. Work with the national security adviser, chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, and the heads of the security and intelligence agencies to ensure the prime minister is provided with timely and relevant intelligence informing high quality national security advice, to protect UK national security interests at home and overseas. Act as principal accounting officer for the Single Intelligence Account.
Objective 2: Act as the prime minister’s principal policy adviser
Actions:
- Act as the prime minister’s principal policy adviser across the full range of issues facing the government, drawing on expertise from departments, other sectors, and international best practice to develop creative policy solutions.
- Provide the prime minister with objective and high-quality advice on propriety issues, including via administration of the ministerial code, the civil service code and special advisers’ code of conduct.
- Advise the prime minister on machinery of government changes, to ensure the government is optimally structured to deliver its priorities.
Objective 3: Support proper and effective cabinet government and decision-making
Actions:
- Deliver an effective programme of cabinet and cabinet committee business, ensuring that decisions are taken in the correct forum, supported by rigorous policy development, analysis and evidence. Oversee national security machinery and crisis management systems.
- Effectively chair the highest official committees in support of the prime minister and the cabinet. Broker agreements between departments as necessary to reach collective positions on government policy where needed.
- Modernise and streamline administrative processes, to remove bureaucracy and inefficiency and enable rapid decision-making while maintaining rigour and accountability. In particular, ensure cabinet secretariat processes are fit for the modern age, including the Cabinet Manual and the systems for sharing information.
- Act as a steward for the democratic system of government and guardian of the constitution, protecting the interests of former governments and ministers, and preparing for the long term. Ensure the civil service retains the confidence of all political parties by demonstrating impartiality and integrity.
Objective 4: Reform the civil service so that it is recognised for excellence in delivery, innovation and improved productivity
Actions:
- As head of the civil service, lead transformation of the civil service focusing on improving delivery, innovation and productivity, including leading work to ensure the service is able to respond to and benefit from AI and tech developments.
- Work with and hold permanent secretaries to account for delivering savings within their departments, including reducing administrative spend, to redirect funding towards government priorities, boost productivity, and improve value for money.
- Ensure each department has an ambitious and deliverable plan to ramp up AI and technology adoption, alongside a strategic workforce plan to deliver efficiencies, strengthen skills and capability and improve public services.
- Overhaul the approach to performance and talent management frameworks for senior civil servants to put the right people in the right jobs, with the right skills, including a strong pipeline at the most senior levels.
Objective 5: Lead an impartial, curious and engaged civil service, with a culture of pride that comes from high performance
Actions:
- Visibly lead the civil service with clarity, energy and passion.
- Champion a culture of curiosity, innovation and pride, recognising high performance and excellence in delivery and innovation.
- Be a strong ambassador and advocate for the civil service externally, to strengthen confidence in and public perception of the civil service, and build trust in the state and its capability.
- Refresh the civil service code to ensure it is up to date, well understood, and adhered to across the civil service. Improve information management and security practices.
- Build and foster a stellar top leadership team of permanent secretaries, operating as a strong, cohesive group. Refresh governance arrangements for more effective day-to-day management of the civil service.