Its report published yesterday said unless the Government can 'rapidly develop and implement a comprehensive plan for cross-departmental reform in Whitehall', its wider ambitions for public service reform, the Big Society, localism and decentralisation will fail.
The analysis and recommendations in the committee's report, "Change in Government: the agenda for leadership", highlight the lack of specialist expertise and other key skills, institutional inertia and complacency which they say have justified the Prime Minister's complaint about "the enemies of enterprise" within Whitehall.
The report stated the traditional model of Civil Service reform through gradual change is not sufficient for circumstances where the Government proposes rapid decentralisation and a structural reduction of one-third in departmental budgets.
Considerable structural organisational reform of the Civil Service is required and that Ministers, together with senior civil servants, need to be more proactive in driving change.
Above all, the committee recommended the Government must formulate a coherent programme for change across Whitehall, and that the Cabinet Office should take on a much stronger coordinating role and should provide much more vigorous leadership to ensure that every department of state is leading and implementing change effectively.
It called for a "world-class centre of Government . . . headed by someone with the authority to insist on delivery across the Civil Service." The Government "should produce a comprehensive change programme articulating clearly what it believes the Civil Service is for, how it must change and with a timetable of clear milestones."
Bernard Jenkin, chair of the committee said: "We support the objectives of reform of the Civil Service;- transferring power from Whitehall into communities;- but Ministers seem to think change will just happen.
"Change needs to be driven from the centre of government and driven by the top management in every department, and lower levels of management must be fully engaged in the objectives and implementation of change. This only appears to be happening in very few departments. There is no machinery to ensure lessons are being learned across Whitehall and that corrective is action taken in weaker departments.
There is a culture in the Civil Service which makes change very difficult. Civil Service reform is something Ministers talk about, but which most civil servants feel does not affect them. They keep their heads down until the latest reform has passed over, and then carry on as before. With the challenges of cuts and downsizing on top of the reforms, that is simply not an option this time."
But, responding to the report, while the CBI supports an agenda for leadership change, it has warned that skills shortages risk jeopardising public service reform. With the report outlining concerns that civil service will be unable to manage change effectively, CMI has also backed the Committee's call for the Government to set out its plans for retaining and developing change leadership skills.
Petra Wilton, CMI director of policy and research, said: "The Government is committed to major changes in public services, but without an urgent focus on management and leadership skills there is a real risk of failure. CMI's own research with Warwick Business School has shown that the skills needed for partnership working are seen by managers as a critical area for development. Without them, ambitious aims to decentralise public services and build the Big Society will be jeopardised. With the National School of Government set for closure, the future for developing management skills is unclear.
"It is right for the new Civil Service Learning programme to be based on a common curriculum, reflecting shared priorities across government. Rather than developing managers from different parts of government in separate silos, the curriculum should be based on recognised national professional standards and accredited frameworks to provide more consistency in the skills learned. Breaking down these silos will take high-level leadership, so we would like to see Francis Maude champion the process in order to give it real momentum."
