Left-wing think tank to advise government on mandarins

For the first time, the coalition has used its new “contestable policy fund” to commission advice from outside Whitehall – and the left-leaning IPPR has been chosen to examine options for change.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said the £50,000 project was being set up following “difficulties” in getting government policy implemented.

He refused to explain when the government’s plans had been hampered, but in August Mr Maude accused some officials of trying to create divisions within the coalition government.

I have always said that, although our civil service has many strengths, it would be arrogant to assume that there is nothing that we can learn from other countries. Francis Maude, Cabinet Office minister

He mentioned a meeting attended by civil servants from his office and another government department at which a permanent secretary had allegedly said it would be hard to make changes because “your minister… doesn’t get on with my secretary of state”.

Mr Maude saud this was untrue and was “designed to give a signal to all the officials in the room that they needn’t bother about what Francis Maude wanted”.

Other countries

The IPPR will look at relationships between ministers and civil servants in the US, New Zealand, France, Sweden and Singapore.

There will be a particular focus on New Zealand, where mandarins have a contractual responsibility to their ministers to push policies through.

Mr Maude said: “I have always said that, although our civil service has many strengths, it would be arrogant to assume that there is nothing that we can learn from other countries.”

He said there was a misconception that in the US all senior officials were ejected when a new president took power. “I think it is the case that even in that system… most of the appointments are made from within the permanent civil service.”

The IPPR has been asked to deliver a “menu” of options for reform by the end of the autumn.