Whitehall needs reform – and the Prime Minister needs to lead it

James Forsyth is right. Whitehall does need reforming. But he is wrong to present this in stark terms of ministers versus mandarins. The real position is more complicated, and not nearly as negative.

First, the positives. The Civil Service has delivered an unprecedented scale of cuts in the spending reviews, and in staff numbers with reductions of a quarter to a third in administrative costs in many departments. Francis Maude has pushed through big savings in procurement and, though we remain concerned about the pace of reform in public service markets, he has initiated welcome changes in the handling of big projects and commissioning. He is also working to achieve greater transparency and increased use of digital transactions with government. Mr Maude is very unusual in being a Cabinet Office minister who cares about reform—and contrary to the Forsyth view, many, if not most, senior civil servants agree about where he wants to go, even if they sometimes question his style.