Antonia Romeo’s performance objectives are a welcome sign of leadership

Antonia Romeo has become the first cabinet secretary for a decade to publish her performance objectives. ¹⁰ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-secretarys-objectives-2026-27  At first glance this might be unremarkable. But what is, on the surface, simply a description of her role in fact contains important signals about how she intends to do the job, and how government might change in the years ahead.

More visible leadership is welcome

The first notable aspect of these objectives is that they have been published at all. Regrettably, it is not normal for permanent secretaries, or the cabinet secretary, to publicly set out aims against which they can be assessed. Romeo is only the second cabinet secretary to publish objectives, after the late Jeremy Heywood did so between 2012/13 and 2015/16. ¹¹ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a79dc4240f0b670a8025f5a/Jeremy_Heywood-objectives.pdf

The document has been seen by some as a power grab, perhaps at the expense of Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister. ¹² https://www.ft.com/content/5285ced7-401a-4e04-beab-e725bdf1928b?syn-25a6b1a6=1  But the better view is that it is the cabinet secretary leaning into her role and rightly establishing her authority at the centre of government. She will need to work seamlessly alongside Jones to get the government machine working more effectively.

In fact, the most important feature of the move is as an example of visible leadership. These objectives are effectively the cabinet secretary showing that she, like all other civil servants, has performance metrics that she will be held to account for achieving. Romeo is also using the document to make what she expects from civil servants, and how she in turn will support them, unambiguously clear.

This form of leadership is not something that recent holders of the post have prioritised, but is a welcome shift.

The objectives set out a clear vision for change

Some of the objectives themselves set out the job description of the cabinet secretary. Romeo describes herself as “acting as the prime minister’s principal policy adviser”. We do not know whether the omission of the words “civil service” was intentional – given the prime minister does have political advisers too – but it is notable.

Others are also revealing. In some, there is a sense of both Romeo’s and the government’s frustration with the pace of change, and what can too often be inefficient or sclerotic processes in the civil service. The document includes a pointed ambition to “modernise and streamline administrative processes, to remove bureaucracy and inefficiency”, emphasises “execution and impact” around the government’s agenda, and – in a phrase lifted almost verbatim from Heywood’s 2015/16 objectives document – stresses the need for “rigour and pace” in driving government priorities.

This is not the language of a cabinet secretary, or indeed a government, satisfied with the status quo.

A clearly defined leadership style is also evident. Romeo intends to “visibly” lead a “curious and engaged” civil service with “clarity, energy and passion”, and to strongly advocate for it externally – again in contrast to some of her predecessors. The reference to “curiosity” is becoming a Romeo trademark, one she also used in her first message to civil servants. Through this and other phrases, Romeo is effectively saying that officials will better deliver for ministers through showing more enthusiasm, interest, imagination and energy in their work.

Finally, there are strong indications of Romeo’s priorities for civil service reform. Ensuring that every department has both a strategic workforce plan and an “ambitious and deliverable plan to ramp up AI and technology adoption” shows a desire to control the long-fluctuating size and shape of the civil service. There are also welcome, though much overdue, commitments to overhaul performance management for senior officials, and reform the bloated Cabinet Office to make it a “leaner, more agile strategic Centre” – even though more thorough reform to the centre of government is needed.

The true test will be whether real reform takes root

The question is whether any of this will come to fruition. Romeo’s objectives are less specific – and measurable – than Heywood’s, and it’s not clear how she will be formally assessed against them.

But more importantly, Romeo’s ability to drive through these changes is hampered by the system in which she and others work. The cabinet secretary has little formal power to reform the civil service – the federated structure of UK government means that permanent secretaries in departments can resist diktats from the centre if they wish. If Starmer and Romeo really wanted to change the civil service for the better, they could address this problem by giving the head of the civil service statutory authority to drive through reforms, and creating clear mechanisms to hold them to account for doing so.

In the current system, Romeo must rely on less formal means – effectively convening, convincing and cajoling her permanent secretary and wider senior civil service colleagues around her plans. Strong political backing will be essential. History shows that well-meaning civil service reform plans falter when an enthusiastic minister moves on, or other pressures divert attention. The fact that these objectives have been published is a positive sign. It would not have happened without the prime minister’s input and approval and shows that Romeo has his backing.

So the new cabinet secretary already has momentum behind her. A little over a month into the job, she has set out her expectations to civil servants and detailed clear priorities for reform with explicit political backing. In the coming months the test will be whether she can harness that backing, unite her colleagues around her vision for change – and, most importantly, to make it happen.