Evaluating the capability of the UK Treasury, 1990-2013

The strength of the United Kingdom’s central finance agency (H.M. Treasury) has been attributed to its broad and powerful influence on policy issues; the high intellectual standards of its staff; the relatively clear division between the “official” treasury and the political level; and the important role played by the permanent secretary as an anchor and point of communication between officials and ministers. To maintain its power the Treasury has to adapt quickly to changing economic and political circumstances, most recently the global financial crisis. It has also engaged in two major reorganisations over the past 20 years, which have resulted in a substantial streamlining of the organisation, a flattening of the management structure, and a casting out of functions regarded as peripheral to its core finance and economic mandate. Some critics, however, have argued that the performance of the Treasury has failed, and that the department needs to be cut back to its traditional role as a budget and finance ministry. JEL classification: H50, H54, H80, H83. Keywords: Treasury, finance ministry, central finance agency, public finance, organisation, change management.