Plans for a “super-ministry” that would replace three Whitehall departments were dismissed as “expensive and disruptive” today.
A Ministry for Infrastructure had been mooted by senior Cabinet figures with the aim of freeing up cash for defence and policing.
The idea, headed by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss, is yet to be approved by the Prime Minister, according to reports.
But the Institute for Government’s associate director Joe Owen warned: “The short-term impact is usually disruption and cost. Moving desks, changing branding, aligning pay differentials are all expensive and have little policy benefit.
“These kinds of changes are often more about Cabinet jostling and political signalling than long-term planning.”
Under the proposals, three different departments — Business and Energy, Culture Media and Sport and Transport — would be merged. A second merger would move the Department for International Development back into the Foreign Office.
A Cabinet minister told The Sun that they needed to be “bold” to save the nation’s long-term productivity problems but that the Prime Minister does not want to “take on the civil service”.
A minister who backs the Whitehall merger said: “At present, the system is very fragmented and allows vested interests to stop progress. We need to be prepared to take them on to speed up delivery and cut costs.”
A Downing Street spokesman denied there were plans to merge the departments.
