UK Important departments at the heart of government may need much stronger powers if the next administration is to cope with the huge public spending cuts to come, according to the Institute of Government, a new Whitehall think-tank.
Despite the popular perception that British government is highly centralised, the three departments at the centre – Number 10, the Treasury and the Cabinet Office – “actually have less power over people and budgets, and fewer sanctions to apply, than many of their international counterparts”, according to the institute, whose executive director is Sir Michael Bichard, the former permanent secretary.
