Subject: Cabinet Office and the Centre of Government
Committee Member: Minister, in your submission you state that the three core functions of the Cabinet Office are; Supporting the Prime Minister; Supporting the Cabinet; and Strengthening the Civil Service. Can the proper balance of support for each of these be achieved if they remain under one roof?
Tessa Jowell: The answer is yes, and I say yes because the Cabinet Office obviously has a very close working relationship with Number 10 and I have been interested to read the arguments that have developed in the committee about the competing arguments in support of a Prime Minister's department as opposed to a Cabinet Office.
In the real world of policy administration there is a very clear distinction - sometimes creating tension - between the role of Number 10 which provides the most immediate support to the Prime Minister and then the broader support function that the Cabinet Office provides. It is also important to stress the support function that the Cabinet Office provides in servicing the range of 46 Cabinet Committees, which are very much the engine of so much government policy development and policy recommendation, which is then taken to Cabinet.