The civil service should become smaller but more powerful, the head of the Policy Exchange think-tank has said.Neil O’Brien also suggested increasing the pay of senior civil servants, bringing salaries in line with equivalent private sector jobs.

Speaking in an interview with CSW, O’Brien said that the civil service should be “stronger but smaller” and “more elite”. Asked whether a stronger civil service would be more able to challenge ministers, he said: “Yes, I think so, intellectually.”

O’Brien said the civil service should be “more flexible and more able to recruit and retain the best.” Higher salaries might be required in the top jobs: “If you look at our research, the people who are least overpaid – or most underpaid – in the public sector are the people in the most senior grades working in London,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything unreasonable about saying high-calibre people should potentially be paid more.”

O’Brien also argued that it should be easier to “move or entirely get rid of people who aren’t very good”; many officials are “waiting for people who are treading water to clear off.”

Read the full interview here.

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Written by CSW