Big Society ‘requires Whitehall reform’

David Cameron’s plans for public service reform and the Big Society will fail without rapid and comprehensive change to the way Whitehall works, MPs have warned.

Moves to decentralise power will require much greater reform of the civil service than currently planned, the cross-party Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) said in a report.

Ministers have so far “failed to recognise the scale of reform required” and think change will “just happen”, it added.

In a hard-hitting report, the PASC said the Government had no plan for reform of the civil service that would meet the Prime Minister’s demands for a shift to localism and the Big Society.

The civil service needed to be more transparent, flexible and tasked with commissioning services from charities, social enterprises and private companies, it said.

“We found that while the Government seeks to embrace change, they have failed to recognise the scale of reform required or to set out the change... required to achieve this reform.”