Whitehall officials in mayoral offices are being presented as proof that power is finally leaving Westminster, although the first thing being decentralised appears to be a carefully packed box of instructions. The government says departments will send five to ten civil servants to each mayoral authority for six to nine months. Local leaders can request the expertise they need. The plain cardboard document box nodded proudly. It had always believed it was ready for regional government.
Whitehall officials in mayoral offices, explained
The announcement covers 18 mayoral strategic authorities. Two more authorities could join later. It also promises programmes for leadership, data and digital skills. Local government may receive more power, more information and several people whose calendars are already booked until the next constitutional era.
The secondments will help mayors deliver a new devolution settlement. That sounds encouraging. However, the settlement may first pass through the traditional national process. Six departments discuss it, photograph it beside a plant and return it because nobody can identify the correct version.
A box with regional ambitions
The plain cardboard document box has taken a special interest in the Digital Devolution programme. It welcomes common data sharing, provided nobody asks it to share the biscuit data before lunch. It has drawn up a regional strategy in pencil. Every action now awaits a meeting.
Whitehall officials in mayoral offices will work with local leaders on transport, housing, skills, growth and other regional matters. This marks a substantial change in administrative geography. Previously, the centre kept the power, distributed the responsibility and sent local authorities a document explaining why the two had become separated.
The government calls this a transfer of capacity. The box calls it a transfer of custody. A senior official can travel to a mayor, it has discovered. Meanwhile, a missing spreadsheet can remain in Whitehall under the protection of national importance.
The devolution revolution arrives with a lanyard
There is a serious point beneath the stationery. Local leaders need useful powers, reliable data and skilled staff. Sending expertise closer to the communities affected makes more sense than congratulating a map for containing regions.
Whitehall officials in mayoral offices may begin a genuine shift. The box has already received its travel pass, temporary access badge and reassuring note about its permanent badge. Devolution has left Westminster at last. It is waiting for a bus outside the photocopier, holding the queue number that Whitehall issued to itself.
Source: GOV.UK.
