Andy Burnham is reportedly set to grant his Cabinet Secretary, Dame Antonia Romeo, expanded legal powers to direct permanent secretaries across Whitehall departments, according to a report in The Times. The move would mark a significant centralisation of authority in the civil service, addressing long-standing complaints from prime ministers about their limited ability to push policy through a system often criticised for departmental infighting and "turf wars".

Currently, Dame Antonia can only ask permanent secretaries to act, with no legal obligation for them to comply, as they answer instead to their own Cabinet ministers. The proposed legislation would reportedly feature in next year's King's Speech. Dame Antonia, appointed in February after Chris Wormald's departure left him the shortest-serving Cabinet Secretary in history alongside a payout reported to exceed £500,000, was previously permanent secretary at the Home Office. The Institute for Government's Alex Thomas cautioned that while boosting central authority could tackle cross-government "collective action problems", it would not by itself fix departmental capability gaps or political obstacles.