Past the pandemic: Reforming Whitehall

Join Bright Blue for the second event in our new ‘Past the pandemic’ series exploring reform of Whitehall after COVID-19.

Reforming Whitehall is central to the Prime Minister’s agenda, with the ambition of making government and public services more efficient and effective. Cabinet Office Minister, Michael Gove MP, delivered the Ditchley Annual Lecture earlier this year, arguing for: moving the Civil Service away from London; diversifying the intellectual skills and perspectives of mandarins, especially improving expertise in data and mathematics; and, enabling civil servants to be more innovative and risk-taking. Supposed failures by the current Whitehall system during the COVID-19 crisis have only intensified the calls for reform. Public procurement, in particular, has come under intense scrutiny during the course of the pandemic, with central government accused of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds. The Government’s plans to shake up Whitehall have not been without controversy. The new Cabinet Secretary takes over a service that has seen six senior figures resign in protest in recent months.