Credit: Gordon Hatton / CC BY-SA 2.0
The cabinet will be divided and parts of the organization will be transferred to the prime minister’s department, but the government’s central digital agencies will remain in place as part of Whitehall’s new “headquarters”.
As the first reported The Timesgovernment officials have confirmed that Downing Street will be responsible for economic, domestic, national security and intelligence policies, and officials working in these areas report to Permanent Secretary № 10 Samana Jones.
At the same time, the cabinet office will serve as a “headquarters” for the civil service and will oversee the ongoing reform under Permanent Secretary Alex Chisholm.
PublicTechnology understands that within this competence the Cabinet Office and Cheezholm will also retain the leadership of the Government Digital Service and the Central Bureau of Digital and Data, as well as the public procurement agency Crown Commercial Service.
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The move appears to be the result of attempts to reconsider Operation № 10, which Second Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Sue Gray called “fragmented and complex” in the initial results of her Partygate investigation in January.
Gray’s full report is expected to be released next week ahead of summer vacation in Parliament, now that metropolitan police have completed an investigation into Covid-violating rallies, at number 10 and in Whitehall during the pandemic.
The move also came after the appointment of Cabinet Minister Steve Barclay to the second post of Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister in February.
The Prime Minister’s Department will have a mission to “increase the support offered to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers, our cabinet system, ”reads an email from Jones, Chisholm and cabinet secretary Simon Case, which was sent to officials last week – and leaked to The Times.
“Through these changes, we will reap immediate benefits: committed leadership, clearer accountability and greater focus on the respective missions of the two sexes,” they said.
The change is also partly the result of plans to reduce the number of civil servants by 91,000, they admitted.
In a statement, the government spokesman added: “As we stated earlier this year, steps are being taken to further strengthen the work of both Number 10 and the Cabinet so that they are better for the public now and in the future. Work on the implementation of these plans continues. “
