The Number 11-Treasury Axis
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The House Magazine Parliament’s Magazine No.6 - Number 11 & the Treasury - Number 11 & the Treasury No.6 Guide to Number 11 &the Treasury In association with The Deloitte LLP public sector team is one of the largest and most experienced providers of professional, advisory and IT services to public sector clients in the UK. Our public sector team provides 95 partners and over 900 experienced specialists in defence, central civil government, health, transport and local government, many of whom have worked previously at senior level in the public sector. We work for almost every major Central Government Department and for many of the London Boroughs, City, County, Metropolitan and Local Councils and for the devolved administrations. We have a proven track record of acting in an advisory role for the successful delivery of large and complex public sector projects. Deloitte can provide innovative approaches and solutions. We operate an innovation initiative across our public sector team with the aim of capturing ideas, insights and perspectives to help work in an environment of cost reduction, localisation and workforce optimisation. Contact: Amanda Dickens Deloitte LLP Stonecutter Court, 1, Stonecutter Street, London, EC4A 4TR, United Kingdom 020 7007 1251 [email protected] | www.deloitte.co.uk The House Supplement No.6 December 2012 othing happens in www.politicshome.com Government without [email protected] N the approval of the POLITICAL EDITOR CAMPAIGNS MANAGER Treasury. Whatever the policy Sam Macrory Lenny Rolles area, this is the one department DODS PARLIAMENTARY EDITOR COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT which needs to be understood. Holding the IN CHIEF DIRECTOR Paul Waugh Rob Ellis purse string means questioning and costing PARLIAMENTARY EDITOR, DODS CEO any initiative. Is the Prime Minister in charge, POLITICS HOME Keith Sadler or does he have to do battle with Number Tony Grew MANAGING DIRECTOR COMMISSIONING AND SPECIAL Philip Eisenhart 11 in the way some of his predecessors had PROJECTS EDITOR The House Magazine to? The Chancellor’s relationship with his Sally Dawson 21 Dartmouth Street, London, colleagues, his advisers (both inside and EDITORIAL ASSISTANT SW1H 9BP Jessica Bowie EDITORIAL from outside the Treasury) and the business EDITORIAL INTERN [email protected] world at large are important too. This Guide Joseph Briggs Tel 020 7593 5665 to... gives some much needed insights and HEAD OF PRODUCTION ADVERTISING John Levers housemagazinesales2 historical perspective on the institution and DESIGN @dods.co.uk the people in it. GISELA STUART MP EDITOR Charlotte O’Neill Tel 020 7593 5650 Matt Titley SUBSCRIPTIONS Max Dubiel Tel 020 8955 7007 ADVERTISING [email protected] Contents Adam Kinlan Dods subs Bianc Nozombane PO Box 2068, Bushey 4 TREASURY MASTERPLANS Redesigning the Treasury Herts, WD23 3ZF 10 COMMENT Ryan Bourne, Matthew Oakley and ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION £195 TWO-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION £351 Mark Littlewood pass judgement on the effectiveness The House Magazine is published by Dods of the Treasury in 2012 The House Magazine is printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Company using only paper from FSC/PEFC suppliers. 16 HOW THE TREASURY WORKS Who are the key www.magprint.co.uk players at the Treasury, and how do they work The publisher and editor are most grateful to the Clerk of the together? Paul Waugh reports Parliaments, the Clerk of the House and other senior officers of both Houses for the support and advice they readily give. 24 PROFILES The Treasury ministerial team ISSN 0309-0426 © Dods Reproduction in any form is prohibited without prior written consent. 34 ORGANOGRAM EDITOR Gisela Stuart MP ASSOCIATE EDITORS Graham Brady MP, 36 INSIDer’S STORY Catherine MacLeod, a former Charles Kennedy MP, Austin Mitchell MP, Treasury special adviser, on her time in the thick of it Priti Patel MP, Jenny Willott MP LIFE PRESIDENT Lord Cormack 40 INTERVIEW Joshua Chambers interviews Alistair Dods is widely respected for producing highly authoritative and independent political publications. Its policy is to accept Darling about his time as Chancellor advertisements representing many sides of a debate from a variety of organisations. Dods takes no political stance on the messages 46 TREASURY TENTACLES How the influence of the contained within advertisements but requires that all content is in Chancellor and the Treasury is felt across Government strict accordance with the law. Dods reserves the right to refuse advertisements for good reason (for example if it is libellous, 50 INFLUENCE James Dowling reveals the best ways defamatory, pornographic, socially unacceptable, insensitive or otherwise contrary to editorial policy). to make the Treasury listen to you HONORARY PUBLISHER Gerry Murray 54 CONSULTATIONS CERTIFIED 57 CONTACTS CIRCULATION: 2341 DECEMBER 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 3 XXXXXX DESIGN Treasury masterplans 4 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2012 In 1996 Foster and Partners were commissioned to redevelop the Treasury building at 1 Horse Guards Parade. The project was completed in 2002 ost office buildings dating The building combines a from the early part of the last sense of history with a century are not ideally suited contemporary working to modern working practices. environment However, many of them add Mto the architectural wealth of our cities and can be restructured to meet contemporary needs. HM Treasury is such a building. Situated between Parliament Square and Horse Guards Parade, it was completed in 1917 and is Grade II listed. In refurbishing the building, the challenge was to transform a labyrinthine and frequently under-utilised set of spaces into an efficient and enjoyable working environment. The existing building has a roughly symmetrical plan, with two parts linked by a drum-like courtyard. It is punctuated by smaller courtyards and light wells, which were hitherto unused. In an echo of the strategy deployed in the Great Court, some of the courtyards have been capped DECEMBER 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 5 6 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2012 DECEMBER 2012 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 7 More than seven miles of partitions were removed to create open-plan offices with translucent roofs to create five-storey spaces that variously house a library, a café, training rooms and an entrance atrium. The external courtyards have been landscaped to form recreational spaces for staff, while the central drum, hitherto used for parking, has been opened up as a new public space. Internally, more than seven miles of partitions were removed to create open-plan offices. This radical reorganisation has enabled the Treasury to be accommodated comfortably in the western half of the building, allowing the remainder to be occupied by other government departments. Significantly, the refurbished building has set new environmental standards in Whitehall. The reconfigured light wells help to ventilate the building naturally, forming thermal chimneys through which air from the office spaces is exhausted by vents at roof level. Fresh air is drawn into the building through the windows, which have also been upgraded to provide improved security. This natural ventilation cycle is assisted by ‘wind catchers’ mounted on the roof. Heating, lighting and communication systems have been similarly modernised, so that the building combines a sense of history with a contemporary working environment. 8 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2012 COMMENT Treasury Tested Stand back and deliver in 2006 – a decision which now looks incredibly foolish, alongside claims we had seen ‘the end The Government needs of boom and bust’. But more importantly, to remember that it can’t assumptions have been used to set out fiscal control the economy, writes rules which cannot be known. The Treasury Ryan Bourne under the previous Government created a ‘Golden Rule’ that Labour would only borrow s the premier UK Government to invest across the business cycle, which of economic department, whose course presumes knowledge of the business stated aim is: “to raise the rate of cycle’s shape. High spending led to what in sustainable growth and achieve hindsight can be seen a large structural deficit. rising prosperity and a better And more recently the Government has set its qualityA of life with economic and employment fiscal mandate as a rolling, cyclically-adjusted opportunities for all,” Her Majesty’s Treasury target – which gives all the appearance of a has two broad roles: to attempt manage the direction of the economy and, more importantly in today’s climate, to control public spending. Government should The first of these is futile and can prove realise that its ability to damaging to our economic efficiency. control the economy Governments can’t control economies, but through manipulation of yet they continue to operate with what Hayek policy is very thin described as the ‘pretence of knowledge’. Macroeconomics at the Treasury level is still based around the concepts of the output gap tough rule but requires huge leaps of faith about and the sustainable growth rate, which implies expectations of events and knowledge of the governments can manipulate policy to keep to economy’s potential. Put simply, Government steady trend growth. Yet recent history clearly should realise that its ability to forecast and shows this to be a dangerous assumption. control the economy through manipulation of The last Government’s faith or hubris around policy is extremely thin. Specific actions and being in control of our economic destiny was policies rarely have