As we approach May 7, many of the papers are trying to predict the size and scope of the big Whitehall departments under the next government. Defence is a hot-button issue as ever, with a report by think tank the Royal United Services Institute - picked up in several of the nationals - warning that more cuts to the MoD budget after the election could see the Army left with just 50,000 soldiers.
Away from the MoD, this morning's Financial Times hones in on the future of the Department for Work and Pensions. According to the paper, officials are planning for a reduction of some 30,000 employees under another Conservative-led government, with 20,000 posts likely to go under Labour. The FT story is based on word from 'senior civil servants', although the department says any prediction about job losses is "complete speculation" because budgets are of course a matter for the next spending review.
The paper also carries an interview with Highways Agency chief executive Graham Dalton who says there is "no intention to privatise" the newly-rebranded Highways England after it becomes a government-owned, contracted-company on April 1. When he spoke to CSW last year, Dalton was upbeat about the more independent future offered by the 'Goco' model. “We invest a huge amount of time looking upwards to our sponsoring department [the Department for Transport] and the Cabinet Office, demonstrating that we are compliant with their requirements, which is time and resource that would be better spent on managing my supplier and my contractors," he told us.
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Former Cabinet Secretary Lord O’Donnell told the Guardian this weekend that he thought it would be “very sensible” for the Queen not to be present at a Westminster Abbey service marking the 70th anniversary of VE Day. The paper reported that O’Donnell’s successor Sir Jeremy Heywood, as well as the Queen’s private secretary and the prime minister’s principal private secretary, had agreed that the sovereign should stay in Windsor to ensure she isn’t pictured with one of the party leaders a day after an election that many pundits predict will hand Britain another hung parliament.
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The Cabinet Office featured in many headlines yesterday after it was reported that the department had refused five requests from the Mail on Sunday to release files outlining official concerns over allegations of abuse by the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith. The move prompted the paper to accuse the Cabinet Office of a ‘cover-up’. A spokesperson for the department said the matter was “sensitive and complex” and denied that the Cabinet Office had been “forced” to release the documents by the Information Commissioner.