Recommendation 11

Recent events have shown up the limitations in government’s forward planning capability when put into practice. Ministers specifically limited the amount of contingency planning the civil service was expected to carry out ahead of the EU Exit referendum in 2016.27 While the Cabinet Office felt that was a reasonable position for ministers to take, it admitted that this decision had led to a delay on negotiating positions and preparations as government had to take time after the referendum to formulate policy and determine what type of agreement they wanted to have with the EU, at time when the speed of the response was critical.28 The Cabinet Office said that it had done work during the most recent election to prepare based on party manifestos, acknowledging that the civil service sometimes has a role which does not depend on ministerial input.29 While the Cabinet Office was not aware of any other areas where the civil service has asked to carry out planning work and has been told it cannot, we are sceptical that this provides any assurance that such an issue may not later come to light.30