This would do a lot to provide a more integrated approach, and support the spread of shared services, but giving the CIO, based in the Cabinet Office, power over other departments would challenge the civil service's way of conducting business.
But the worsening plight of the Roma and the increasing intolerance in central and eastern Europe after 1989 are bracing antidotes to smugness about the post-Communist spread of shared values.
To help spread this ethos of sharing, Airbnb recently announced a new initiative called "Shared City" in Portland to "help civic leaders and our community create more shareable, more livable cities through relevant, concrete actions and partnerships".
Unit trusts are invested in a broad spread of shares so the risk is reduced.
There are few better symbols of capitalism's success than the spread of share ownership.
The spread of share ownership will help to secure better pensions for today's baby-boomers.
The spread of share ownership means that a growing proportion of people's savings is tied to the equity markets.
The spread of share ownership, and especially the growing influence of foreign investors, is spreading an equity culture across Europe (see article).
Dick Grasso, the combative chairman of the NYSE, likes to cite his two conservative heroes of the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, as chief inspirations for both privatisation and the spread of share ownership.
