Ministers to shake up Civil Service
Ministers could be given new powers to dismiss senior civil servants when they enter office, as part of radical plans being considered by the Government.
Cabinet Minister Francis Maude will today announce he is commissioning research to look civil service models from around the world.
Other proposals under consideration include an extension of the use of US-style political appointees to drive through policy.
According to research carried out by the Taxpayers' Alliance, the Ministery of Defence shed proportionately more backroom bureaucrats than any other on Whitehall in the latest quarter.
Between the end of December 2011 and the end of March 2012, the total number of staff employed in the Department and associated quangos (but not including military personnel) went from 57,210 to 54,250, equal to a reduction of more than 5% in three months.
The largest surge was at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, which increased its personel by 4%, going from 2,816 at the end of December 2011 to 2,929 at the end of March 2012.
Jonathan Isaby, political director of the Tax Payers’ Alliance, said taxpayers would be "stupefied" at the staff increases in the Department of Enegy.