Keir Starmer has been presented with new proposals to create a Department for the Prime Minister that would transfer power away from the Cabinet Office to Downing Street.
Former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara is credited with leading work on the proposals for think tank the Future Governance Forum – the latest in a succession of blueprints for central-government reform tabled in recent years.
The forum argues that the PM needs to have “one cohesive organisation” reporting to him. It describes the Cabinet Office – which has traditionally done the PM’s bidding across departments – as having become “bloated” in its senior leadership, “unclear about its core role” and lacking traction across Whitehall.
According to the FGF, the new executive office for the prime minister should have four clear groups that would be supported by a cross-cutting communications function and a political office.
The core teams would comprise a “politics and strategy group” tasked with coming up with proposals to tackle the thorniest issues facing the country over the short, medium and long term; a “policy and delivery group” to drive the PM’s agenda across Whitehall; a “diplomatic and security group”; and the “Prime Minister’s Office”, which would act as the authoritative voice of the PM across government. The latter group would be a “tightly refocused” version of existing arrangements for the prime minister’s private office.
The FGF’s report does not stray deeply into detailed proposals for machinery of government shifts that plans for the new department would involve. However, it does propose that “several” functions that currently sit in the Cabinet Office should move to the new prime minister’s department.
In particular it says elements of the National Security Secretariat should move and that parts of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat could also transfer.
Under the proposals for four groups, the national security adviser – currently Jonathan Powell – would lead the diplomatic and security group. He would be part of a seven-strong leadership team for the Department for the Prime Minister, including a chief of staff, director of communications, principal private secretary, chief policy and delivery adviser and a chief operating officer.
The FGF said the permanent secretary of the new department could effectively be the PPS, the COO or the chief policy and delivery adviser, depending on who was best placed.
Under the new arrangements, the cabinet secretary would retain responsibility for the principles of cabinet government and the constitutional aspects of the secretariat “but would not be responsible for driving day-to-day progress” on the PM’s behalf.
FGF executive director Nathan Yeowell said that while the prime minister has committed his government to the task of “patriotic renewal”, the system he inherited last year is not set up to deliver.
“For years now, the centre of the UK government has hindered, not helped, prime ministers to achieve their political programmes,” he said.
“What’s needed is a proper overhaul of the state, starting at the very centre. Keir Starmer needs a modern Department for the Prime Minister, equipped with the powers and teams he needs to hand – just as his counterparts in countries such as Australia and Canada have.
“Trust in government is at rock bottom. With the changes he’s started to make, the prime minister shows he gets this – our recommendations set out what needs to come next if he is to renew the nation and restore people’s faith in the power of government to do good.”
One aspect of change that creating a new department could help with is recruitment of “top talent”, according to the FGF.
Its report says that as a standalone department Dowing Street would be able to operate its own “bespoke model” of appointment and management, including autonomously setting its own policies on hierarchy and remuneration.
“The new Downing Street should create a world-class recruitment and HR function which takes the business of hiring the right people in, and getting the best out of them, much more seriously,” the report says.
“A dedicated function should support the Downing Street leadership team to realise this new model in practice.”
The report adds that Downing Street could move to a model of hiring people on a single employment contract that would allow the best person to be appointed to any given job “irrespective of background”.
It said that existing civil servants could be appointed via the Civil Service Commission’s “appointments by exception” rules, while external appointments could be hired as special advisers, under the terms of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.