Douglas Carswell's Blog

Citizens' Charter dot com?

Remember John Major's Citizens' Charter initiative?  An attempt to empower people against the vast, faceless bureaucratic state, you'd be forgiven for not even being aware of it at the time it was launched in the early 1990s.

Today the Coalition outlined plans to "radically decentralise power".  How are today's plans so different from what we saw twenty years ago?  

While John Major relied on telephone "hot lines" to keep officials on their toes, today the government wants to use the power of on-line.  There will be a website so we can all peer upward as Sir Humphrey is measured according to his own yardstick.

Gosh.  That's the transparency box ticked.

To make sure that there's accountability, each Whitehall department is now going to produce a monthly progress report - and the secretary of state "will have to account to the prime minister if they are not on track".

Didn't they try something similar in Downing Street under Blair?   

What is so disappointing about today's proposals is that for all the talk of accountability, once again accountability is inward.  For all the talk of websites, it's still government answering to government.

It is hard to see how the proposals outlined today would have prevented the various episodes of dysfunctional public administration we have witnessed in recent years. 

If we are serious about making government more accountable, it needs to be made outwardly accountable.  Whitehall needs to be made to answer more to Parliament - and Parliament to the people.

Instead of Sir Humphrey submitting monthly progress reports to Whitehall, he should have to annually plead for his departmental budget from the relevant Commons select committee.  Indeed, Sir Humphrey's own appointment should be subject to a public confirmation hearing.  If you want details on how it could easily be done within twelve months, read The Plan. 

No wonder Sir Gus O'Donnell was smiling at today's press conference. 

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