Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden has refused to set specific targets for civil service job cuts despite the government’s ongoing efficiency drive.
His comments come as 400 Cabinet Office jobs have been placed at risk as part of reforms to create a “smaller, clearer structure” within the department.
The Government is also reportedly considering cutting more than 10,000 civil service positions across Whitehall.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has launched a spending review requiring ministers to find five per cent efficiency savings across departments.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden refused to set specific targets for civil service job cuts
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Speaking to GB News, McFadden said: “I don’t want to set out a figure because it’s been done before, and it hasn’t worked.
“You might remember the Conservatives said they would cut the number of civil servants by 90,000 I believe it was, and then hiring went up.
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“What I want to do is something different, which is to make sure that we get the best bang for the buck for the public to make sure that where people want to see more people, for example, teachers in the classroom or police officers on our streets, that we get the resources there.
“But we also use both new technology and good performance management to get the good civil servants, which is the vast majority of the people I work with, to do their jobs better.
“And where it’s not working out, where we can have a process where people leave.
“These are some of the reforms that we’ll be setting out this week.
“It’s really important that the state reforms itself while the private sector is changing. If we think of the way that we do business in the private sphere, we can’t have a state left behind in all our interests, and that’s what I want to do.”
The Cabinet Office reforms aim to create what officials describe as “a smaller, more effective” department that can better coordinate delivery across government.
More than 10,000 civil servant jobs could be cut as part of this push, though the Government has not confirmed a specific target.
Rachel Reeves has launched a spending review requiring ministers to find 5 per cent efficiency savings across departments
PA
The previous Conservative Government had planned to scrap 66,000 jobs.
A Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to making the civil service more efficient and effective, with bold measures to improve skills and harness new technologies.”
Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect trade union, called for “a clear plan for the future of the civil service that goes beyond the blunt headcount targets”.