As the first ministers of the new, coalition government are appointed, managers across the entire public sector - as well as those in the private and third sectors who deliver, or wish to deliver public services - will be watching the appointments keenly.
The new prime minister, David Cameron, and the new deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, announced their formal coalition agreement today and began appointing ministers.
It is yet to become clear how the new government's policies will be worked out - but the importance of individual ministers in key appointments is clear and Westminster watchers have been assessing the potential impact.
Key appointments are Andrew Lansley as health secretary and Michael Gove as education secretary.
With the coalition government committed to the Conservatives' strategy for a "significantly accelerated" plan to reduce the UK's national deficit, public sector spending cuts of £6bn will be made in this financial year and the real horse trading will start soon over where cuts will fall.
Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have promoted some form of closer collaboration with social, community and other third parties to deliver more public services, although the degree to which such devolution will be put in place is still unclear.
Anxious times
For many senior public managers, this will be an anxious time, especially for those with services that require short term investment for a long-term return. Such services are now likely to be at risk. One public health manager in the north of England, who recently met new health minister Andrew Lansley during the election campaign, expressed concern: "He didn't want to talk to us. He just wanted to talk to GPs. He thinks managers like us are a waste of time."
For the third sector, the Charity Finance Directors' Group has called on the new government to make endeavours to involve the third sector in designing and implementing policies on community involvement, to "minimise any potential for negative impact on charities".
Meanwhile, the shares of several companies went up, including Serco and Capita, which may expect to benefit from any increase in outsourcing of public services. In a trading statement yesterday, Capita said it believes outsourcing would "play a key role" in addressing the fiscal deficit. Serco also said its business was being boosted by global demand to provide essential services at less cost.
But there has been praise for the way the formation of the new government has been handled by Whitehall. The Guardian calls cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell, the "unsung hero of the hour" for his role in releasing guidance on how to handle coalition negotiations and his appointment of senior civil servants to support those negotiations - which, of course, have taken place in the Cabinet Office itself.
His work, says the Guardian, " calm atmosphere surrounding during a highly delicate moment in British constitutional history".
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
