28 January 2000
Suma Chakrabarti, the modernising head of the Performance and Innovation Unit, has been promoted to lead the Cabinet Office's economics secretariat. He replaces Willy Rickett, who has become head of the government's newly created transport task force.
Chakrabarti, 40, head of the PIU since its inception in 1998, is on secondment from the Department for International Development and arrived at the PIU, via the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Treasury.
He will have responsibility for the unit in his new role and is expected to appoint a successor shortly. The process will be by open competition and the Cabinet Office is said to be keen to appoint a non-mandarin to the post.
An economist, Chakrabarti championed the evidence-based working much favoured by the prime minister.
The PIU has challenged Whitehall's more traditional ways of working, operating like a consultancy and bringing in people on secondment, mostly from outside Whitehall.
A recent PIU report, Wiring it up, suggested mandarins felt too much loyalty to their department, diverting the focus away from delivering services.
PFjan2000
