Civil service chief Antonia Romeo to call for ‘fundamental’ overhaul of Whitehall

The head of the civil service is expected to say Whitehall must become more productive under plans for a “fundamental” overhaul.

Cabinet secretary Dame Antonia Romeo will warn departments must improve efficiency in a “tight fiscal context” and argue changes are needed to address low public trust and the emergence of AI.

Chancellor John Healey earlier told departments to make 1 per cent cuts to their capital budgets to fund defence amid Andy Burnham’s wider drive to streamline central government in Whitehall, and push power into the regions.

Dame Antonia will say Whitehall must be reimagined in “the most fundamental way”, according to The Telegraph, and “the civil service of tomorrow must look very different from the civil service of today”.

In a speech at the London School of Economics on Tuesday, she is expected to argue: “Improving our productivity and efficiency is therefore essential in a tight fiscal context. It’s the only way we will be able to meet increased demand for services.”

She will praise the “remarkable institution” she leads but argue that officials must adapt to the age of AI, which “represents the most profound paradigm shift in modern governance”.

“For the first time in history, the efficacy of public service no longer has to be artificially constrained by the limits of human bandwidth,” the cabinet secretary is expected to say. “We must remain capable of explaining how and why decisions are made to retain public trust. Ethical and transparent deployment of AI with appropriate guardrails must be our overriding principle.”

She will also call for more to be done to improve public trust, arguing that “trust in public institutions generally has reduced and needs to be re-earned”.