As a Civil Service World survey finds that 59 per cent of civil servants believe that better recruitment and performance management must be a key goal for the civil service, Sir Bob Kerslake has published new performance management procedures and pledged to CSW to be more “consistent and robust.” The poll surveyed 1,395 civil servants. When asked to cite the top three capabilities their “department most need[s] to improve in order to better meet the challenges facing it,” 59 per cent named “the recruitment and retention of staff, and better managment of poorly performing staff” (see illustration). In response, Kerslake said: “We have to put our hands up here and say, whilst there has been some improvement in performance management, generally we’ve got to be more [Read more...]

The government’s civil service reform plan will increase the “corporate management” of the senior civil service and allow departments to better understand the abilities of employees in other organisations when recruiting, Sir Bob Kerslake, head of the civil service, has told CSW. Speaking in an interview on his plans for civil service reform, he said: “We will see more corporate management of the senior civil service, more cross-Whitehall work on talent development and career development… in the civil service reform plan.” A poll by CSW showed that 52 per cent of civil servants think that one of the “three biggest barriers limiting people’s ability or readiness to move between civil service organisations” is “a tendency within recruiting organisations to favour [Read more...]

Civil servants support moves to increase the transparency of government and to devolve powers down to local government and communities, but are strongly opposed to outsourcing delivery to the private and voluntary sectors, an exclusive poll by CSW has found. CSW polled 1,395 civil servants, setting out how “the government wants the civil service to change the ways it handles policymaking and service delivery.” It then asked for their views of the changes. On “the move to use transparency and citizen choice at the local level to improve service quality, rather than relying on centralised targets and reporting systems”, 65 per cent of civil servants offered broad support, with 18 per cent saying “it’s a great idea and should work well” and 47 per cent saying “it’s a good [Read more...]

Cabinet Office permanent secretary Ian Watmore will step down from his role at the end of June, it was announced today. He will leave the civil service and focus on his non-executive responsibilities. The new acting permanent secretary will be Melanie Dawes, currently the head of the economic and domestic affairs secretariat. An open competition will be held for a permanent replacement.Watmore said: "I have greatly enjoyed my time in the Civil Service, which is one of Britain’s best assets. I admire the wonderful people who work in it, and will miss them greatly. It has been a privilege to have served as a Permanent Secretary in three roles, for three Prime Ministers, and feel lucky to have been able to do this after a long business career."Sir Bob Kerslake, Head of the Civil Service, [Read more...]

The Cabinet Office has scaled back plans for a ‘Giving Summit’ due to fears that the event will be hijacked by debate over the income tax relief cap. The summit, scheduled for 8 May, was planned as a celebration to mark the one-year anniversary of the Giving White Paper. However, it is now simply to comprise a number of low-key meetings. The drinks reception has also been cancelled. The income tax relief cap was announced in the Budget by chancellor George Osborne, and restricts the amount of tax relief higher-rate taxpayers can receive by donating. It has caused uproar in the charity sector and discomfort in the culture department, whose secretary of state Jeremy Hunt has championed philanthropy.

Civil servants in the PCS Union will strike on 10 May over reforms to public sector pensions, the trade union announced last week. They will be joined by NHS workers from the Unite trade union, it said. The strike is timed to take place the day after the Queen’s speech, which the PCS believes will announce legislation for pension reforms that increase the contributions of public sector workers, reduce the pensions’ value and increase their retirement age. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “The government must talk to us with the genuine aim of reaching a settlement, but if it refuses, we will press ahead with strikes and protests the length and breadth of the country in the coming weeks and months.” Meanwhile, other civil service trade unions are currently balloting [Read more...]

The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) is in competition with ministers’ special advisers, friends, think tanks and other groups, NICS permanent secretary Malcolm McKibbin has said, and must demonstrate to politicians that its advice is the highest quality if ministers “are to properly value our information and our service.” Speaking yesterday at the NICS Live event in Belfast, which was run in partnership with CSW, McKibbin added that the economic and social environment makes this a particularly challenging time for civil servants, but that they need to “step up to the plate and deliver”. “We must give [ministers] quality advice in a timely way so they understand the consequences of their decisions, whether that be positive or negative,” he said. “In our devolved [Read more...]

All departments must identify five per cent of their budgets that they could cut if they require contingency funding, chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said in a speech to the Institute for Fiscal Studies this week. “I have asked all departments to identify around five per cent of their resource budget that could be re-prioritised if new pressures emerge or new policies have to be funded, so there is a shared understanding of how it could be paid for,” he said. “To be clear, no departmental budget is being changed as a result of this exercise,” he added. Cuts do not have to be made, but potential cuts must be identified. The central reserve will continue to exist, but the Treasury does not want it to be the first resort for departments that require contingency [Read more...]

The Department for International Development (DfID) has the greatest capability to meet its delivery challenges while the Department of Health (DH) is least well-equipped to do so, the latest round of capability reviews suggest. CSW has analysed the 12 Capability Action Plans published following departmental capability reviews, which ended in March. The reviews are designed to assess how well equipped departments are to meet their delivery challenges. Every department has conducted its own review, and these have been signed off by permanent secretaries. The plans grade departments using four categories: green, amber-green, amber-red, and red. Using a simple calculation based on departments’ performance in each category (see right), CSW has produced a set of results topped by DfID [Read more...]

The Treasury must take ownership of the new system of accountability that will develop as a result of public service reforms, the Public Accounts Committee has said. The new report also said that the “approach to accountability for localised services lacks coherence and clarity,” that “local accountability mechanisms are immature”, and that “value for money may not be [departments’] most pressing concern.”