Charity finds 'strategy gap' at centre of government

BRITAIN'S top civil servants believe there is a "strategic gap" at the heart of Gordon Brown's administration, according to a damning report.

Based on evidence from 60 senior Whitehall figures, it warns that there is no "single coherent strategy" and calls for urgent reforms of a "relatively weak" operation.

The hard-hitting analysis was produced by the Institute for Government, an independent charity which aims to "improve government effectiveness". It is to be published today.

"The office of the British Prime Minister holds a concentration of formal power greater than that of almost any other country in the developed world," it says.

"In contrast, the fragmentation and lack of co-ordination at the centre of the civil service – the Treasury, Number 10 and the Cabinet Office – leads to an administrative centre that is relatively weak. This … has created a strategic gap at the heart of British government, which inhibits the ability to set overall government priorities and translate them into action."