Treasury is taking a less adversarial approach, says mandarin

16 Mar 00
The Treasury is no longer considered to be the 'enemy' of other Whitehall departments, Gill Noble, deputy director of its public services directorate, said this week.

17 March 2000

She said: 'We work very hard to make sure that we are not seen as the enemy. On the other hand, we are the bank manager and no matter how constructive relationships are with the bank manager it still colours the relationship.'

She told the Scottish Parliament's finance committee that the Treasury had deliberately tried to move away from the aggressively adversarial role that it used to play.

Committee convener Mike Watson, a Labour MSP, said the committee – which is conducting an investigation into the finance functions of the Scottish Executive – said that he had the impression that the Treasury was seen as the 'enemy' in Whitehall.

Noble told the MSPs that the development of more positive relationships was part of the Treasury's aim of improving the quality of services as well as their effectiveness.

The chancellor, Gordon Brown, felt strongly that the Treasury's role was to contribute towards improving public services 'and not just make them as cheap as possible'.

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