Whitehall given mixed report

No government departments were considered 'excellent'

Ministers have been given a taste of their own medicine in a survey which rated government departments on performance.

Several departments were labelled "weak" and one - transport - got the lowest rating of "poor" in the survey of politicians, policy makers, analysts and former Whitehall mandarins.

The study was aimed at giving ministers - and their fondness for grading the performance of public services - an idea of how it feels to be on the receiving end of such analysis.

Five departments received a "good" mark while the Treasury was singled out as "the undisputed heavyweight", in the survey for BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour programme.

Top performers

Treasury

Ministry of Defence

Foreign Office

International Development Department

Northern Ireland Office

The survey - which considered no government departments to be "excellent" - follows the publication of an investigation into the performance of local authorities by the Audit Commission.

In that survey, councils were graded as excellent, good, weak or poor. The Westminster Hour report did the same, judging departments on delivery, legislation, management and handling of crises.

Think tanks

The transport department was judged "poor", while the Home Office, culture department, food and rural affairs department, education ministry and the department headed by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott were all judged "weak".

Worst offenders

Transport

Home Office

Culture department

Food and Rural Affairs

Education

John Prescott's office

The panel of experts included two former cabinet ministers, a Labour Commons committee chairman, the head of John Major's Downing Street policy unit, Labour's one-time policy director, a former senior civil servant and experts from the academic world, think tanks, local government and the media.

Each department was given 'marks', which were then totalled to produce a final ranking. The Scotland, Wales and Privy Council offices were excluded because of their limited roles, and the Cabinet Office was judged together with the prime minister's office.

"Good" departments were the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office, the International Development Department and the Northern Ireland Office.

The Treasury received a similar ranking and was described by one judge as "tough and well-run", and "the undisputed heavyweight" by another.

'Lost control'

Specific comments on each department were made anonymously.

Tony Blair's office was rated as "fair" along with the Health Department, the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Trade and Industry Department and the Work and Pensions Department.

One judge said the Home Office had "virtually lost control" of the UK's borders, while another said it was sending out "appallingly tangled messages about drugs, asylum/immigration and law and order".

The department at the bottom of the heap, transport, was said by one judge to "lack a strategy, lacks follow through on policy and has lost control of its own policy development".

The 12 judges were:

• Lord Blackwell (Head, Prime Minister's Policy Unit, 1995-97; chairman, Centre for Policy Studies)
• Beth Egan (Deputy Director, Social Market Foundation)
• Sir Peter Kemp (Second Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, 1988-92, former member, Audit Commission)
• Ruth Lea (Head of Policy Unit, Institute of Directors; former civil servant)
• Sir Michael Lyons (Former Chief Executive, Birmingham City Council; Head, Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham)
• Lord MacGregor (Cabinet minister at Treasury, MAFF, Education, Lord President, Transport, 1985-94)
• Andrew Rawnsley (Presenter, The Westminster Hour; Chief Political Columnist, The Observer)
• Matthew Taylor (Director, Institute for Public Policy Research; former assistant general secretary and director of policy, Labour Party)
• Dr Tony Travers (Department of Government, London School of Economics)
• Martin Weale (Director, National Institute for Economic and Social Research)
• Baroness Williams (Former Labour cabinet minister; co-founder, Social Democratic Party; leader, Liberal Democrat peers, former Public Service Professor, Harvard University)
• Dr Tony Wright (Labour MP; chairman, House of Commons Public Administration Committee)