PM promises to give power to the people
DAVID Cameron will today announce an end to Whitehall targets, promising to replace them with a new structure that makes ministers more accountable to voters.
The Prime Minister will tell a conference of civil servants that people rather than politicians will set the benchmarks for departmental performance, with the power to instigate change if government fails to live up to expectations.
He will say that all departments must publish a Structural Reform Plan that shows how they will give voters more say over how government works.
In education, teachers will not have to answer to Whitehall or meet centrally-set targets. But they will have to show they are impressing local parents, who will be able to switch schools or even club together to bring in a private provider if they’re unhappy with the standard of teaching.
Amid fears the government is being type-cast as little more than a deficit-cutting machine, he will rekindle the “Big Society” theme that featured heavily in the Conservative general election campaign.
“We want to replace the old system of bureaucratic accountability with a new system of democratic accountability – accountability to the people, not the government machine,” Cameron will tell delegates at the Civil Service Live conference.
“We want to turn government on its head, taking power away from Whitehall and putting it into the hands of people and communities.”
The Prime Minister will signal a break with the target culture that defined Labour’s years in government.
In its place, the government will set up mechanisms that allow local communities to make changes to public services, by voting in local referenda and by having a greater choice of different providers on offer.
Meanwhile, in a bid to heal tensions with civil servants, who are up in arms over plans to slash their redundancy payouts, Cameron will thank the civil service from smoothing his passage to power.
“So much of what we’ve managed to do in getting this new government off the ground is a tribute to your expertise,” he will say.