UK Ministers Order Whitehall Consultation Overhaul to Speed Up Decision-Making

A government pilot found 131 consultation requirements packed into just 10 pieces of legislation. That number, now cited as a driving force behind a new reform package, captures what ministers have described as a system that has swollen well beyond its original purpose. The Cabinet Office and Attorney General's Office moved to dismantle it on March 26, ordering an immediate overhaul of Whitehall's consultation culture.

The measures, announced as the next step in a wider programme of clearing out Whitehall's layers of unnecessary bureaucracy, include ending the introduction of unnecessary reporting and consultation requirements through a higher bar for their inclusion in legislation. Ministers also committed to using AI to identify existing disproportionate reporting and consultation duties that are slowing down delivery. Equalities Impact Assessments will be reviewed for proportionality, and Environmental Impact Assessments will be replaced with Environmental Outcomes Reports as part of a significant step in reducing bureaucracy around new infrastructure projects.

Working alongside the new Cabinet Secretary, Antonia Romeo, ministers will also reform the process for collective Cabinet agreement of government policy to speed up decision-making. To ensure the culture shift lasts, the new Cabinet Secretary is implementing a clearer accountability framework, working with Permanent Secretaries to set clear expectations and measurable targets, driving delivery and innovation across departments.

Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the problem had become structural. "For too long, the levers of power in Whitehall have been trapped under layers of outdated regulations and overlapping consultations that prioritise process over progress," he said. "We are stripping away these layers to empower brilliant public servants to deliver change for working people, replacing an outsourcing of responsibility with accountability and decisive action."

Attorney General Lord Hermer KC was direct about the cost of the status quo. "There are too many examples where well-intentioned processes are slowing down decision-making at the heart of government. This delays real change and fails the public we serve. We are getting on with rewiring the government and this review will speed up decision-making across Whitehall to help deliver a more agile, modern state," he said.

The government argued that slow decision-making is not a problem that only affects Whitehall, with real consequences for people across the country, from how government responds to a crisis to how quickly a new school gets built, roads get repaired, or high-speed broadband is installed. Consultations have increasingly been used for routine changes, with one department, for example, consulting on a change to how it produces its own Annual Report.

The changes are part of the wider Civil Service Reform programme launched by Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Darren Jones, in January. Ministers said the measures would help fix the gap between Whitehall decision and delivery on the ground, forming the basis of a wider programme of cutting through government "sludge".

The Conservatives offered a pointed rebuttal: the changes were being made by a government "stuck in consultation paralysis." The opposition framing cuts at a central tension in the package: whether a government that has taken nearly two years to reach this point can credibly claim it is replacing process with pace.