Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo has called for a comprehensive overhaul of the civil service, describing it as "reactive and risk-averse" in a speech delivered last Tuesday. As part of this reform, ministers are planning a "radical shift" of powers, resources, and accountability towards regional and local government. Dame Antonia stated this would result in Whitehall becoming "leaner and more strategic".
Devolution is expected to change the functions of central government, rather than just its operational locations, given that 80% of civil servants already work outside London. Dame Antonia also questioned whether current departmental boundaries "remain optimal in an era of cross‑cutting delivery?"
To improve the civil service's international ranking, which currently places it joint sixth in public administration, Dame Antonia advocates for embracing AI. She claimed that the efficacy of public service no longer needs to be limited by "human bandwidth".
However, a 2025 paper by Oxford University's Erzsébet Bukodi and John H Goldthorpe, alongside Nottingham University's Inga Steinberg, indicates that access to elite civil service posts is still skewed towards individuals from advantaged backgrounds. The study, which traced the backgrounds of 476 public service leaders between 1945 and 2022, found that progress in widening access has reversed over the last two decades. The paper also highlighted a low representation of Stem or quantitatively oriented qualifications among senior officials.