Oliver Dean: Labour’s Whitehall shake-up is a good start – but they must go further

Oliver Dean is a political commentator with Young Voices UK. He studies History and Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he is the Treasurer of the LSE Hayek Society.

The Sir Humphrey Applebys of Whitehall will be quaking in their polished, leather Oxfords. Pat McFadden’s announcement of a Whitehall overhaul is set to reduce civil service underperformance and boost government efficiency. While his goal is noble, McFadden must go further if he hopes to truly reform government. That begins with ending the sense of complacency that has been allowed to run amok in Whitehall.

Civil service reform has been a focus for successive governments. Dominic Cummings saw it as “an essential prerequisite to reforming the country itself.” Former Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-Mogg lambasted Rishi Sunak’s failure to overhaul the civil service during his premiership, claiming he “bungled” the matter. Time and again, those who enter Westminster looking to implement real, lasting change are met with an army of officials in suits and bowler hats who want to maintain the status quo.

McFadden is certainly moving in the right direction. His reforms will see the highest-paid civil servants face “stricter performance monitoring” with those who fail to improve their performance within six months set to face dismissal. Alongside this is the creation of “mutually agreed exits” which will provide further incentives for those who are underperforming to leave the service.

But while this is a good first step, with the right ideas, the government could take a major leap forward instead.

That would mean a proper clampdown on departmental spending, particularly focusing on expenditures linked to Government Procurement Cards (GPCs). With Britons facing the highest tax burden on record, it would not be unreasonable to expect taxpayers’ money to be going towards worthwhile projects. The ongoing waste of public money on useless gimmicks would be entirely unacceptable.

In January 2023, for example, the Ministry of Defence spent £93,168.43 on “leisure activities” and proceeded to spend £35,419 on lawn mowing services just a few weeks later.

Wasteful spending is not confined to the Ministry of Defence, however. In October 2024, the Department for Culture Media and Sport spent more than £4,000 of taxpayers’ money on “workplace adjustment equipment.”  Even the Home Office spent more than £500 on “noise dampeners” in September 2024.

When these figures are compared with the billions spent on departmental projects and such, they may seem irrelevant. When newspapers are discussing the Chagos Deal costing more than £18 billion and more than £13 billion going towards the defence budget, a few hundred pounds here and there doesn’t seem important. But it is not the amount that is the problem – it is the message it sends and the precedent it sets.

It tells civil servants reckless expenditure will not be punished, that they can wave the public credit card at any problem and not face proper scrutiny. This is why Pat McFadden must go further if he is to truly shake up the civil service. Reducing underperformance is a welcome move, but if a parasitic sense of complacency remains present in the halls of Whitehall, nothing will change.

To break this cycle, McFadden must push for external audits of all government departments. Independent auditors, not internal bureaucrats, must be granted the authority to scrutinise spending decisions, flag waste, and hold officials accountable. Civil servants should be required to justify every pound they spend, just as private-sector employees are expected to do. Without this, any attempt at reform will be little more than window dressing.

The civil service is in dire need of reform. Underperformance is one thing, but when complacency has been permitted to fester in a system for centuries, someone must pick up the axe and be willing to act. McFadden can be this person. He must push for further reforms in Whitehall if the civil service is ever going to change. If not, while we may continue to vote for our politicians at the ballot box, it will be those behind the scenes who are really in charge.