Senior MPs call for parliamentary commission on the civil service David Cameron will on Thursday come under pressure from senior MPs to launch a full inquiry into how to make the civil service more effective, following a series of procurement and contractual blunders in Whitehall. The prime minister has so far resisted a wide-ranging civil service review, claiming it would be a distraction and that mandarins would "down tools." "We all love talking about our own job," Mr Cameron told MPs in September. But on Thursday, he will face calls from senior MPs to set up a parliamentary commission on the civil service in an attempt to make it more commercially savvy as a buyer of services from the private sector. The liaison committee - made up of the chairmen of all the Commons select committees - will urge Mr Cameron to draw on the lessons from past procurement problems, including the provision of rural broadband and the rollout of universal credit. The West Coast main line franchising fiasco also threw into sharp relief the problems facing a slimmed down civil service in dealing with complex deals with the private sector. The issue has sparked recriminations in Whitehall. Iain Duncan Smith, work and pensions secretary, spoke earlier this year about how he had "lost faith" in 2012 in the capacity of civil servants to deliver universal credit. Mr Cameron argues that the civil service is already bringing in outside experts to help with procurement, with senior business people sitting on departmental boards as non-executives. Francis Maude, Cabinet Office minister, is also bringing forward reforms allowing ministers to create expanded private offices, combining civil servants with hires from the private sector. But many MPs believe the reforms do not go far enough. The liaison committee cites "significant evidence that the civil service is not equipped to support consistent contract management and tends to be driven by short-term pressures." The senior MPs add that they are "unconvinced that the government's civil service reform plan for Whitehall is based on a strategic consideration of the future of the civil service." Bernard Jenkin, Tory chairman of the public administration committee, claims senior ministers oppose an inquiry because they see it as a distraction, while mandarins are also opposed because they are "in denial." Writing in the Financial Times, Mr Jenkin says: "The UK has one of the best systems of government in the world but it is also showing some of the key characteristics of a failing organisation." He claims there has been "a breakdown of the relationship between ministers and officials which has become almost a constant war of attrition." Mr Jenkin would like to see a joint commission of both Houses of Parliament to examine the problem and to report back so that reforms can be implemented after the 2015 election. Mr Cameron's spokesman was adamant that such a review was unnecessary and that reforms were bearing fruit. "The right thing to do is to get on with reforms that are being put in place," he said. The Institute for Government said a parliamentary commission would only work if it focused on long-term questions of how the civil service operates in an age of austerity. "The creation of a commission must not hold up current reform efforts," it said. Sir Bob Kerslake, head of the civil service, has conceded that reform efforts need to be accelerated but believes the Whitehall machine is performing remarkably well when some departments are being cut by 40 per cent across a single parliament.