Northcote-Trevelyan 2.0: Restoring the legitimacy of the state with a Burnham-Romeo plan

This paper sets out the case for a new transformational plan for the functioning of government. Just as the Northcote-Trevelyan Report provided the foundation for the modern merit-based civil service, it argues for a Burnham-Romeo plan to reimagine the role of the centre in a more devolved, more relational state.

It argues that Whitehall needs to move beyond a top-down, command-and-control approach and become an enabling centre: setting direction and national standards while giving local leaders the freedom, resources and capability to respond to the needs of their communities.

As part of Demos’s Powering Public Service Reform programme, the paper sets out six shifts needed to reset the relationship between the centre, public services and citizens – from managing to leading; fiscal control to local autonomy; accountability to the centre to accountability to citizens; and from treating local government as a delivery vehicle to building its capacity and capability.

The aim would be to create a more collaborative, preventative and relational approach to public services, with citizens treated not simply as beneficiaries or customers, but as partners in government.