Audit to shine a light on duplication

Officials have asked for a breakdown of roles below deputy director level so Treasury officials can evaluate each team, how much it costs and their roles. 

The deadline for the information was the end of last month.

The hope is to “shine a light on the 5,500 people working in NHS England and the extent of duplication in NHS-X and NHS-D and other arm’s length bodies”, one source said.

Mr Barclay is also understood to have submitted a department-by-department list of reforms to 10 Downing Street that the Treasury wants ministers to implement once their spending limits are settled in next month’s Spending Review.

The list of reforms was worked up in secret by officials in the Treasury over the summer. One source said that the top priority for Mr Barclay, a former Health minister, was the NHS given the scale of the spending.

Ministers ’empowered’ to reform departments

One government source said ministers felt “empowered” to go further in demanding reform from departments in the wake of the tax rises, which have gone down badly with the party’s core membership base.

One source told The Telegraph: “The Treasury last week had to do something extremely difficult; we now feel particularly empowered to ask them that they deliver reforms to make sure the funding is value for money.”