On Tuesday 20 January 2026, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Darren Jones, set out plans to rewire Whitehall around digital delivery. In a Cabinet Office press release the following day, he described the aim as a new digital state focused on services built for users and a civil service able to move fast and fix things, after years of weak public sector productivity.
Jones, formerly Chief Secretary to the Treasury, presented a package built around fewer approval gates, mission-focused taskforces, an expanded pipeline of external digital expertise through the No10 Innovation Fellows, and a reset of performance management for senior leaders. The Cabinet Office framed the agenda as a shift from internal process to delivery for the public.
The first operational change is a new cross-government framework to reduce bureaucratic checks from April 2026. The Cabinet Office cited a pilot on HMRC’s technology modernisation for tax enforcement and digital filing, where approvals were cut from roughly 40 across multiple layers to two, bringing the timeline forward by an estimated two to three months.
For programme teams this indicates fewer sequential sign-offs and more time spent on execution. Jones said the intention is to concentrate effort on delivery rather than internal papers and interdepartmental arguments. The approvals review began while he was at HM Treasury and will now be rolled out across departments.
Taskforces will apply the Vaccine Taskforce model outside of crisis conditions. With direct ministerial sponsorship and a line to the centre, they will be able to recruit quickly on short-term appointments, bring in external specialists, procure at pace within the rules, and take calculated risks to remove blockers. The first taskforces will be confirmed shortly, according to the Cabinet Office.
External digital capability will be scaled through the No10 Innovation Fellows programme. The Cabinet Office said the scheme will expand to 30 Fellows after a highly competitive intake using problem-solving and coding tests, with a reported success rate of 0.7 percent. Recent and planned projects include tools to reduce NHS waiting lists and AI-powered systems to improve prison security, drawing talent that has included alumni from CERN, NASA and Y Combinator.
Senior civil service reform will place greater weight on delivery, innovation and private-sector experience in hiring and appraisal. Ministers will set clear KPIs for top officials, with under-performance leading to exit where improvement is not achieved. The Cabinet Office pointed to last year’s figures showing that out of around 6,700 SCS staff, seven were on performance plans and two were dismissed for poor performance. The bonus pot will be redistributed to focus larger awards on exceptional results rather than business as usual, while keeping the overall pot unchanged.
Capability development will be brought in-house through a new National School of Government and Public Services. The school is intended to build digital and data skills, including AI, and to reduce reliance on external training as it scales. The reform package also sits alongside plans to halve spend on external consultants and to reduce departmental administration costs by 16 percent over five years, with the Cabinet Office citing expected savings of more than £2 billion a year by 2030.
Policy Wire analysis: departments should prepare for streamlined business case governance and clearer accountability for outcomes. Procurement and commercial teams will need to align rapid taskforce delivery with the Procurement Act 2023, which introduced more flexible procedures from 24 February 2025 while maintaining transparency obligations. Finance, HR and digital leaders will need to reflect ministerial KPIs in objectives, recalibrate bonus distribution, and plan for the new school’s curriculum to close immediate skills gaps.
The immediate milestones are fixed. The approvals framework begins from April 2026; the first taskforces are expected to follow; and recruitment to the Innovation Fellows continues. The Cabinet Office has set an expectation that the centre will actively remove delivery barriers so that emergency-style methods can be applied without waiting for a crisis.