Non-executive business directors being brought into the heart of the civil service will be given the power to fire senior officials if they fail to fulfil their mandates.

 
A major shakeup of Whitehall will see four business executives appointed to the beefed-up boards of each of the 16 government departments in order to help the coalition government implement its efficiency drive. Incumbents will be asked to reapply for their jobs.
 
For the first time, the boards, which are tasked with monitoring departmental performance, will be able to ask the Prime Minister to sack permanent secretaries, the most senior civil servants, if they underperform.
 
Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, said: “We are making it quite explicit that where permanent secretaries fail to properly implement government programmes, non-executives will be able to ask for their dismissal.”
 
But he admitted that the move was being met with scepticism and some resistance from senior officials, amid fears that the appointments threaten to undermine the independence of the civil service.
 
According to the Financial Times, however, the Cabinet Secretary has had difficulty in finding suitable candidates. Lord Browne, the former BP executive who was appointed as the government’s lead non-executive director in June and was tasked with leading the process, has so far only managed to find half of the proposed 64 appointments.
 
Lead directors have been hired to the boards of only 11 of the 16 departments, with health, work and pensions, defence, and energy and climate change yet to secure a single one. “It has been very complicated. It is like putting together 16 boards. Change is always very difficult. There is resistance as well as acceptance as you go along,” Browne said.
 
The first tranche of non-executives are due to be announced today after weeks of delays, but the aim is to complete the list of appointments by mid-January. Each non-executive will be paid between £15,000 and £20,000 for working between 12 and 15 days a year, although some have said they will waive their salaries.