Rewiring government

This guest paper says that central government should be smaller, better organised and more focused, and should set out broad outcomes as the motor of decisions made locally. The role of government would be just as important, but different – enabling the people and systems, on which society depends, to work more effectively. 

Only the government has the levers to unlock and encourage the capacity of people and businesses to take the right decisions. Keir Starmer has said AI will improve the government’s work, but like so many other reforms in recent decades its true power will not be unleashed unless the fundamental wiring of central government is changed.

Peter Makeham was a director general in the Department for Education and the Home Office between 2000 and 2011. He is writing in a personal capacity.

This paper is adapted from a longer work on the topic that can be downloaded below (PDF).