Chapter 21: Cabinet Office
Following the Machinery of Government changes announced by the Prime Minister in May 2002, and the appointment of Sir Andrew Turnbull as the new Cabinet Secretary, the Cabinet Office has the following strategic objectives for the period to 2005-06:
The Spending Review gives the Cabinet Office group an increase in spending of £321 million a year in 2005-06 compared to 2002-03. This yields an average growth rate of 3.6 per cent above inflation over the 3 years for the Cabinet Office core functions, with 3.7 per cent for the group as a whole. |
Priorities
21.1 Over the SR2002 period, the key aim of the Cabinet Office will be to support the Government's delivery and reform programme. Sir Andrew Turnbull's plans on how the Cabinet Office will be reorganised to achieve this aim were set out on 24 June 2002.
21.2 The recent machinery of government changes have also had implications for the Cabinet Office. For example, the work of the Regional Co-ordination Unit, the Government Offices for the Regions, and the Social Exclusion Unit will now be taken forward by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Delivery
Support to the Prime Minister and the Government
21.3 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Secretariats will continue to provide the best possible support to the Prime Minister and the Government, providing advice and coordination across the whole of the Government's business.
Delivery of key public services
21.4 Delivery of key public services priorities and leading the reform programme for public services will be a key focus of the work of the Cabinet Office over the Spending Review period. Working closely with HM Treasury, the Delivery Unit is responsible for ensuring the Government achieves its delivery priorities across the key areas of public services. The Office of Public Services Reform will continue to work with departments to redesign services around the needs of customers. The Strategy Unit (which will bring together the Performance and Innovation Unit and Forward Strategy Unit) will focus on strategic and cross-cutting policy analysis. The e-Transformation group, led by the e-Envoy, will continue to lead work to achieve the Prime Minister's targets for electronic service delivery by the Government.
Coordination of security, intelligence and civil contingencies
21.5 Sir David Omand, the Security and Intelligence Coordinator, will lead the work of the Intelligence and Security and Civil Contingencies Secretariats in working to enhance the capacity at the centre of Government to coordinate security, intelligence and consequence management matters and to deal with risks and major emergencies should they arise.
Spending plans
21.6 The Chief Secretary has allocated additional funding for the Cabinet Office. This will ensure that the Cabinet Office has the financial flexibility to deliver against its full range of objectives.
Single Intelligence Vote
21.7 The Security and Intelligence Agencies play a vital role in protecting the UK from a diverse range of threats, including terrorism, serious crime and espionage. The importance of the Agencies in protecting national security was recognised in the 2000 Spending Review and again in this Review. The new spending plans provide for an average 7.1 per cent a year real growth from 2002-03 to 2005-06. Total spending on the Single Intelligence Vote will be £291 million higher in 2005-06 than in 2002-03. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September, the Agencies continue to provide a significant contribution to tackling the threat posed by terrorist organisations. The Government has, therefore, ensured that they remain sufficiently funded to meet their agreed objectives.
Table 21.1: Key figures | |||||||||
| £ million | |||||||||
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | ||||||
| Total Cabinet Office | |||||||||
| Resource Budget | 1,637 | 1,864 | 1,919 | 1,934 | |||||
| Capital Budget | 150 | 196 | 216 | 231 | |||||
| Total Departmental Expenditure Limit1 | 1,608 | 1,831 | 1,899 | 1,929 | |||||
| Cabinet Office1 | 193 | 232 | 231 | 231 | |||||
| Single Intelligence Vote1 | 896 | 1,088 | 1,157 | 1,187 | |||||
| Other bodies2 | 518 | 512 | 512 | 512 | |||||
| Near-cash spending in DEL3 | 1,480 | 1,702 | 1,767 | 1,792 | |||||
1 Full resource budgeting basis, net of depreciation. | |||||||||
2 Including the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Parliamentary Commissioner, the Privy Council, the Central Office of Information, the Electoral Commission and the National Audit Office. | |||||||||
3 Consistent with previous control basis. | |||||||||