The new chief executive of the civil service has said the government has tried to carry out “too much transformative change” at once.

Former BP executive John Manzoni told MPs that the civil service was having to do “30% too much across the board”.

While it was their duty to implement government policy, he said “we have to be clearer about where it is possible and where it is impossible”.

“We sometimes get sucked into things which are very difficult to achieve.”

Mr Manzoni, who has been in the newly-created job for a month and first joined the civil service in February, said his objective in his new job was to “improve execution across government”.

Making his first appearance before the Commons Public Accounts Committee since being appointed, he said the civil service had always been over-extended but the situation had become acute in recent years.

“We are doing 30% too much across the board, we always have been,” he said.

“We have got too much activity. No company would undertake the level of transformative change that this government has. No company would do this.”

nil plus ultra’s Co-Founder, Graham Jackson is one of the first to be appointed as a Crown Representative, (this cadre of business leaders are a key component of the commercial organisation which reports into Mr Manzoni) and has been engaged to assist Whitehall in its drive for better value for money. Already, Sir Francis Maude Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General and his team have declared savings of over £14bn.

Robert Fedder, nil plus ultra Co-Founder commented: John Manzoni talks like the top businessman he is…and he has a major challenge ahead of him. Already, the progress is material. It is very satisfying to see Graham Jackson playing his part in this change and drive for value. This represents a major plus for Whitehall efficiency, value for money in public services and returns on the tax that people and companies pay into Whitehall coffers.