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A0361
CONFIDENTIAL
P R I M E M I N I S T E R
E f f i c i e n c y and Waste i n C e n t r a l Government
(C(79) 36)
You have already discussed this paper with S i r Derek Rayner and and you have his brief and a copy of his speaking note.
me,
My brief i s therefore
confined solely to handling and to conclusions.
HANDLING
2.
We are breaking new ground by inviting S i r Derek Rayner and his two
supporters to talk to the Cabinet. himself, M r C.S. Ponting of MOD
You will want to welcome them (Rayner
and M r N. R. Warner of DHSS).
You might
thank their M i n i s t e r s for allowing them to attend.
3.
You might remind Cabinet that you gave Rayner three jobs to do
initially:
(i)
Cutting down on demands on the public, f i r m s , etc. for
information;
(ii)
this i s i n hand,
Getting r i d of 'conventions' which inhibit efficient management;
this, too, i s well i n hand,
(iii)
Cutting out functions.
You asked each M i n i s t e r to designate
a suitable young official i n his Department to c a r r y out a quick
study of potential targets. come in, f r o m MOD
Two of the e a r l i e s t reports to
and DHSS, a r e very promising.
thought Cabinet would enjoy hearing about them.
And you
You are not
pointing the finger at any individual Departments: the object i s
to show what can be done, given co-operation and M i n i s t e r i a l
support, to eliminate inefficiency and waste even in the best-run
Department.
4.
You have circulated (C(79)39) a very good minute by Derek Rayner,
about the next steps.
One of his suggestions i s that there should be a regular
system of 'scrutinies' in Departments.
The pilot projects which Rayner has
already c a r r i e d out show what can be done.
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The idea i s that M i n i s t e r s i n
CONFIDENTIAL
charge of Departments themselves
should undertake this work.
It is not a
question of the centre arrogating the responsibilities of Departments.
The
role of central Departments w i l l be limited to giving the thing a push, reviewing
p r o g r e s s periodically, and ensuring that lessons are r e a d - a c r o s s f r o m one
area to another.
5.
When Rayner and his two assistants have had their say, you will want
the d i s c u s s i o n to go round the table.
It will probably be helpful to c a l l the
Chancellor and the L o r d P r e s i d e n t f i r s t , as both of them will speak i n support
of Rayner.
The Home S e c r e t a r y i s also an ally.
We had expected the S e c r e t a r
of State for Defence to be hostile, but it will be difficult for h i m to argue that
everything is under control, following Ponting's h o r r o r stories.
I suggest
you avoid too much d i s c u s s i o n of the detail of the scheme, and concentrate
on getting agreement that the new system i s desirable, and on the target date
of 23rd November for r e p o r t s on the f i r s t batch of topics to be tackled.
You
could leave i t open whether Cabinet should have a further d i s c u s s i o n when you
see the f i r s t list.
(You may find it useful to have such a d i s c u s s i o n to put
p r e s s u r e on reluctant M i n i s t e r s . )
CONCLUSIONS
6.
The f o r m a l conclusions to r e c o r d at the end of the meeting might be: (i)
to welcome the f i r s t indications of success i n the Rayner
studies;
(ii)
to endorse the proposals i n his minute, circulated with C(79) 39;
(iii)
to agree that a l l M i n i s t e r s i n charge of Departments should send
their initial proposals f o r 'scrutinies' to /_you/
/_and the
L o r d President/ by 23rd November^
(iv)
to note thatyou will consider holding a further Cabinet d i s c u s s i o n
about that l i s t at a later stage.
(John Hunt)
3rd October 1979
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