FDA - Delivering for the Nation - White Paper

An FDA alternative White Paper

2 Delivering for the nation - Securing a WorlD-claSS civil Service

an fDa alternative White PaPer 3

foreword 4

executive summary including list of recommendations 6

chapter 1 Modernising the civil service: the challenge 12

chapter 2 Equipping the civil service to deliver in the modern context 15

chapter 3 Getting accountability and impartiality right 21

chapter 4 How to improve morale and motivation to deliver for the nation 26

next steps 31

4 Delivering for the nation: Securing a WorlD-claSS civil Service

foreword

Dave Penman

fDa general secretary

a world-class civil service is critical for delivering world class public services and efficient, effective government.

it matters because it forms the bedrock of our democracy, it makes government work, makes policy real and changes

people’s lives. it is hugely important for us all that our civil service works effectively in the national interest.

although the current civil service is under severe pressure, it is not broken. neither is it perfect. the fDa is not resistant to change: we share the aspiration of a better civil service - a world-class civil service. But we think an approach based on learning from experience and continuous improvement - not a stark choice between radical reform or no reform at all - is the way to achieve that. this is the approach we advocate in this paper.

all too often the debate about modernising the civil service is framed within negative headlines. there have been suggestions of obstructionism and a considerable part of the recent Parliamentary debate has

focused on the issue of permanent secretary appointments and accountability of the most senior officials.

Meanwhile, in the day-to-day real world, the civil service is made up of dedicated and highly skilled public servants who are really committed to ‘Delivering for the nation’. in the real world, civil servants are operating in an exceptionally challenging environment of diminishing resources, radical change, and pay levels that have fallen dramatically behind the market.

civil servants are not “faceless bureaucrats” but real people striving every day to serve the government and the public. they include those who stop tax evasion, prosecute criminals, improve the performance of schools, represent our national interests abroad and protect our borders. these are just a few of the key public service occupations the fDa represents as well as those who provide support and advice to Ministers, the “Mandarins” as the press love to describe them.

the fDa, the trade union to which 19,000 of these senior public servants and professionals working in Whitehall and


throughout the uK belong, is keen to ensure that there is a longer term, more strategic debate about reform of the civil service, that is built on a shared analysis of the challenges facing the civil service and which looks at building political consensus on what needs to be done to achieve effective civil service reform.

our White Paper proposals are therefore designed to deliver improvement and progress on a range of issues. We advocate a considered evolutionary approach based on three core principles, which we hope can secure support across all political parties:

l the starting point for reform must be a proper appraisal of the challenges the civil service faces, the skills that are required and the resources required to deliver policy commitments;

l that we must learn from experience and expertise and build on the many examples

of success rather than focus on occasional failure; and

l that the process of reform can only really succeed if there is respect on both sides: respect by civil servants for the extremely difficult and changed role of Ministers, and respect by politicians for civil servants’ unique and complex role in policy development and implementation.

i very much hope that you will read the fDa’s alternative White Paper with interest, and take part in the debate over the coming months about how together we can secure a world-class civil service that truly delivers for the nation.

Dave PenmanfDa general secretary

foreWorD

“civil servants are not ‘faceless bureaucrats’ but real people striving every day to serve the government and the public.”


Since the last comprehensive review of the civil service in 1968 by lord fulton we have seen huge structural

change, both in terms of who now makes decisions and the process by which decisions are made. Policy making has constantly and rapidly evolved during this period and we have also seen radical transformation in the way that public services are delivered. the one constant has been that the impartial civil service has kept at its heart its core mission of ‘speaking truth unto power’, which comes from the principles first set out in the northcote trevelyan report of 1854 that established the civil service. impartiality is at the heart of the strength of the civil service and any reform must be very cautious not to damage it.

the fDa accepts the argument that “there is no right size for the civil service”, however this does not mean that continuous reductions in the size of the civil service is justified. reductions on the scale, and at the pace, of those underway currently will place enormous pressures on those who remain in the civil service, and undermine the capacity to deliver the quality of services the public quite rightly expects. By 2015, matching resources to workload will be profoundly challenging. it is clear that the civil service is currently facing unprecedented challenges, and to ensure that it can deliver for the nation it must have the skills it needs for a changing environment and expectations, but it is also imperative that there is clarity on what the civil service is expected to do.

executive summary

“By 2015, matching resourcesto workload will be profoundly challenging.”


executive SuMMary

Equipping the civil service to deliver in the modern context

the fDa welcomes the government’s commitment to put skills, learning and development onto a stronger footing through five-year capability plans in each department. this needs, however, to be reinforced with

a commitment to invest in the skills and capabilities of all civil servants. We make a number of recommendations in this White Paper for improving the skills, capability and diversity of the civil service.

Recommendations

1. the fDa recommends that departments should have to report the training received by staff on a yearly basis, with a target of at least 95% of all staff having received five days accredited training. there should be regular independent skills and training audits to ensure compliance. if departments do not spend an allocated sum on training 120% of that underspend should be recovered centrally and re-distributed in the following year.

2. the fDa recommends that the civil Service competency framework is aligned to other public service frameworks.

3. the fDa recommends that public sector training should be joined up so that public servants can access training across the whole sector. this should be supported by a bespoke Sector Skills council to at least embrace the civil service and local government.

4. the fDa recommends that secondments/loans between departments and the wider public sector should be encouraged through a greater central management and resource, with targets for departments to incentivise take up.

5. the fDa recommends that there should be regularly reviewed development plans for staff on release so they do not actually experience a career detriment from the arrangement.

6. the fDa recommends that the government’s commitment to reduce the turnover of senior responsible officers should be extended to other senior roles. this approach must be reinforced by explicit recognition and reward of those senior people, who will now be required to remain in key posts for longer.

7. the government should provide investment to support the fDa’s work to improve diversity and leadership in the civil service and across the public sector.


executive SuMMary

Getting accountability and impartiality right

the civil service must ensure that it retains the confidence of the public and elected politicians to provide impartial objective advice to the government of the day and deliver high quality public services. trust between civil servants, the government they serve and Parliament is critical for the effective working of government and a healthy democracy. What is vital is that civil servants, Ministers, Parliament and the public understand how accountability operates and - to the extent that it is possible - there is general agreement on how public servants and ministers are held to account for their actions. it is vital, therefore, that as far as is practical, a consensus is achieved on how the osmotherly rules should operate.

the ability of an incoming government of a different political persuasion to trust senior appointees to act in a politically impartial fashion is clearly of great constitutional significance. government must be able to operate effectively when there are changes of Minister or administration. the fDa rejects, therefore, the notion that it would be better to move to an approach in which there would be wholesale changes of senior civil servants after each general election. the fDa does accept that Ministers should have an opportunity to influence the selection process of the most senior civil servants but believes that the ability of the civil Service commission to appoint individuals on the grounds of merit, who can also command the confidence of ministers, is the ultimate test. accordingly we support the current

arrangements for appointment of permanent secretaries but are recommending that these should be reviewed and outcomes tested on a regular basis.

the fDa recognises that the civil service does not have a monopoly on the expertise needed to underpin high quality policy advice. harnessing external expertise, through commissioning research and stakeholder consultation, plays a vital role in the policymaking process. it should be recognised, however, that the civil service is the only organisation in the field whose remit is indivisible from, and truly complementary to, that of the government of the day. an impartial civil service is vital to assuring Ministers of robust advice on implementation options and costs. the civil service’s ability to “speak truth unto power” is an asset to be prized, not to be condemned as obstructive.

Whilst there is currently much discussion about the need to ensure that civil servants have the right skill set for running modern public services, there is little recognition that Ministers also need an increasingly complicated set of skills to provide the necessary political leadership to make government work. We are therefore recommending in this White Paper that consideration should be given to the support and training provided for Ministers in the operation of government, role of the civil service and specific departmental policy responsibilities.


executive SuMMary

Recommendations:

1. the fDa believes that it is important to ensure that high quality, easily accessible data is available to hold the government to account, accompanied by the right information to inform its use. the fDa recommends therefore that sufficient impartial resource and expertise should be secured in the civil service to make data available, explain its meaning and maximise its use and reuse for holding government to account.

2. the fDa believes it is vital that as far as is practical, a consensus is achieved on how the osmotherly rules should operate. the review should consider the experience of the other Parliaments in the uK and how the relationship between civil servants and politicians operates, often in a much more collaborative environment. the fDa recommends that the review should consider wider issues around training and support for those giving evidence. it is essential that the fDa is fully involved in establishing a revised process.

3. the fDa fully supports the current arrangements for appointment of permanent secretaries but recommends that these should be reviewed and outcomes tested on a regular basis.

4. the fDa recommends that consideration should be given to the support and training provided for Ministers in the operation of government, role of the civil service and specific departmental policy responsibilities.

5. the fDa does not believe the numbers of special advisors should be artificially limited. however the fDa recommends that greater emphasis should be placed on the training and oversight of special advisors. this should ensure that they have the capability to perform the vital task of providing Ministers with political advice and support, without the risk of becoming a barrier to the relationship between a minister and their civil servants.

6. the fDa believes - subject to the overriding principles of appointment on merit, and oversight by the civil Service commission - that it should be possible to devise a truncated appointments process to cater for exceptional circumstances where they may be an urgent need for a particular expertise.

7. the fDa firmly believes and recommends that the civil service must retain the job of presenting final policy advice to Ministers, making sure that advice is objective and reflects all the costs, evidence and options available. Ministers can then take policy decisions clear about the risks and benefits of all the alternatives.


executive SuMMary

How to improve morale and motivation to deliver for the nation

no well-functioning organisation - in the private or public sector - can exist without a motivated workforce focused on achieving its goals and purposes. the civil service is not in a position to be able to present itself as the ideal employer. civil servants as a whole, and in the higher grades in particular are witnessing a substantial fall in remuneration, which for some could be as high as 25%. for successive years, across more than one political administration, ‘pay restraint’ in the civil service has been seen as a political imperative. With each year that passes the pay gap between the public and the private sector widens and issues of turnover, quality recruitment and ongoing morale worsen.

there is a great disparity between pay in the higher grades of the civil service and the pay for comparable roles in the wider public and private sectors. the problems raised by an expanding gulf between pay in the civil service and comparable employments are not unsolvable, but action does need to be taken. continuation of the current approach is simply not viable. We are making a number of recommendations in this White Paper that we believe will help to address the current situation and which could help to avert an exodus of skills and experience from the civil service.

Recommendations:

1. the fDa recommends that the responsibility for setting civil service pay policy for all grades represented by the union should be transferred to a strengthened, independent and autonomous salary review body. a recent survey of MPs showed significant support for this position with majority support from politicians in all main political parties (com res Survey – January 2013).

2. the fDa recommends that the cabinet office should instigate, in early course, a review process similar to that undertaken for the ScS in northern ireland to examine and make recommendations in relation to the analogous pay system in great Britain.

3. the fDa recommends that the cabinet office should initiate a dialogue with non-executive directors on departmental boards about the level of remuneration paid to private sector leaders in order to retain key skills and capabilities.

4. the fDa recommends that civil service employers should be allowed sufficient funding and flexibility to address recruitment and retention concerns before they became acute.

5. the fDa recommends that the cabinet office should review and address the long-hours culture in the senior civil service and take forward lessons on flexibility learned during the london 2012 olympics.

6. the fDa recommends that there should be fresh engagement between employers and the union on performance management that is genuinely about improving performance and recognising achievement. any system of performance management will not succeed if it does not have the confidence of staff and this should be a key objective.

history of civil service reform

1854 the 1854 northcote-trevelyan report established the values of the civil service including that it should be permanent, unified and politically neutral. it also recommended a clear division between staff responsible for routine (“mechanical”) work, and those engaged in policy formulation and implementation in an “administrative” class.

1918 the 1918 haldane report established the structure of British government, which is still shaped by the seminal report’s basic principle of “defining the field of activity in the case of each department according to the particular service which it renders to the community as a whole.” it advocated separate ministries for health, education, finance, foreign affairs and defence - all of which essentially remain.

1968 the 1968 fulton report found that administrators were not professional enough, and in particular lacked management skills; that the position of technical and scientific experts needed to be rationalised and enhanced; and that the service was indeed too remote. its 158 recommendations included the introduction of a unified grading system for all categories of staff, a civil service college and a central policy planning unit. fulton also said that control of the service should be taken from the treasury and given to a new department, and that the “fast stream” recruitment process for accessing the upper echelons should be made more flexible, to encourage candidates from less privileged backgrounds.

1980 the 1980 osmotherly rules state that civil servants (“officials”) are not directly accountable to Parliament but instead it is the Secretary of State (or Ministers of State, Parliamentary under-Secretaries of State and Parliamentary Private Secretaries as the elected/appointed agents of the crown) who are accountable to Parliament. civil servants – essentially carrying out actions under ministerial powers and authority – are merely responsible to them, and thus cannot be summoned by select committees, as they are protected by the same rule that prevents Members of Parliament being summoned. however, in general, if there is a dispute about the attendance of an official, the relevant minister should attend instead as a matter of courtesy. the rules have been updated a number of times - most recently in 2005 - and civil servants frequently do appear before select committees, although the rules under which this happens remain somewhat unclear.



heart its core mission of ‘speaking truth unto power’, which comes from the principles first set out in the northcote trevelyan report of 1854 which established the civil service (see previous page).

But we agree with Sir Bob Kerslake, head of the civil service, who said in the foreword of the civil Service reform Plan about the civil service of the future:

“We are facing unprecedented challenges which call for profound change and adaptation. We have already started this process… the challenge is to work together to deliver change whilst maintaining our core strengths and enduring values.”

unfortunately, the coalition’s civil Service reform Plan, published in June last year, has not provided a basis for the comprehensive debate that is needed. We do recognise that it acknowledges the significant changes and challenges being faced by the civil service and the government’s strength of feeling that reform is necessary. however, it has to some extent been diverted into a debate around a very limited number of issues such as accountability, and at worst been used as a pretext for further eroding the reward package for civil servants.

the Plan drew together a broad range of issues around five themed chapters: the future size and shape of the civil service, improving policy-making capability, implementing policy and sharpening accountability, building capability, and creating a modern employment offer for staff. the fDa naturally has views on each of those. We agree, for example, that there are areas where the civil service could, and should, improve - the areas of project

the civil service was last comprehensively reviewed in 1968 by lord fulton. Since then we have seen huge structural change both in terms of who now makes decisions – with for example devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and northern ireland as well as increasing localism – and the process by which decisions are made. to take but one example, technology has transformed the way we work, the way we communicate and the way citizens and the state interact. it has transformed society, business and inevitably politics including the civil service.

in fact politics, and policy making, has constantly and rapidly evolved over recent years during which time we have also seen radical transformation in the way that public services are delivered. there have been fundamental shifts with many ‘public services’ now privatised or provided by non departmental public bodies or commissioned rather than delivered. there have also been changes in actual delivery so that they are more local, flexible and personal.

the specific role of the modern Secretary of State has changed enormously since 1968. if what politicians do has changed – as it clearly has with communication and consultation to the fore as well as the ever present demand for media comment and public transparency – then it is clear this necessitates change in what the civil service does. Moreover we have also seen, very recently, more institutional shifts such as fixed Parliaments, a presumption towards five years for ministers to be in the same post and more flexible working following arrangements introduced during the olympics.

in this context, the impartial civil service has of course constantly evolved keeping at its

chapter 1Modernising the civil service: the challenge


the fDa accepts the argument that “there is no right size for the civil service”, however this does not mean - and therefore should not be used to justify - that continuous cutting back is the right approach. in fact, we believe reductions on the scale, and at the pace, of those underway currently will place enormous pressures on those who remain in the civil service, and undermine the capacity to deliver the quality of services the public quite rightly expect. By 2015, matching resources to workload will be profoundly challenging. Whilst the fDa will work hard to meet that challenge, and will engage constructively on reforms that facilitate delivery, the civil service cannot ever be seen as expendable - an alternative means by which to finance reducing the deficit. this issue, along with the build-up of frustration over pay and reward, have impacted on levels of morale which continue to fall. We examine issues of morale and motivation in chapter 4.

management, procurement and leadership are clear candidates. chapter 2 presents our thinking in these areas.

the fDa has strong views on the section of the reform Plan on implementing policy and sharpening accountability, touching as it does on important matters about the constitutional role of the civil service. the current position set out by the armstrong doctrine is that “the civil service as such has no constitutional personality or responsibility separate from the duly elected government of the day”. this principle is important in protecting the ability of the government of the day to demand fearless and impartial advice from their civil servants, without the political risk of that advice being used against ministers out of context by their political opponents. this impartiality is at the heart of the strength of the civil service and any reform must be very cautious not to damage it. We examine these issues in more depth in chapter 3.

chaPter 1

“the civil service cannot ever be seen as expendable – an alternative means by which to finance reducing the deficit.”


But whether or not the call for a more fundamental review is taken forward, the fDa has a clear vision of the modern civil servant - someone who is professional, well-disciplined and creative as well as highly motivated. it is someone who deserves respect as well as gives it. it is someone who is equipped and supported to do their job. Someone proud to deliver for their nation and recognised not as a faceless bureaucrat but a real person with real talents and an essential job. in this respect we do agree with Prime Minister David cameron, who said:

“the core of the civil Service reform Plan is this: harnessing the world-beating talents of those who work in our civil service and making sure they aren’t held back by a system that can be sclerotic and slow.”

is there still time for the civil Service reform Plan to engender the debate that is needed about a modern civil service or is time for a more comprehensive, authoritative and cross party review of the civil service – perhaps a commission similar to fulton? this is a question we believe must be seriously considered and answered in the next few months.

Perhaps it is time to go back and ask the very basic question: what is required of a civil service in a highly complex, advanced western state in the twenty first century? if we could all agree on the functions of the civil service then its form should follow, and we can perhaps look forward to it delivering for the nation rather than attracting headlines and being treated like a political football.

chaPter 1

“the fDa has a clear vision of the modern civil servant – someone who is professional, well-disciplined and creative as well as highly motivated.”


the last decade has witnessed a continued reduction in the size of the civil service: from the gershon review to the age of austerity there has been a constant salami slicing of resources. at no point has any government stepped back to consider more fundamentally what the civil service is here to do, how it relates to the wider public services and how it should be resourced.

too often budgeting and planning in Whitehall starts at the answer - cuts - and works backwards. control rather than creativity is championed, more so now given the ever increasing scale of budget cuts. But it is clear that to deliver for the nation the civil service must have the skills it needs for a changing environment and expectations. But it also means we must be clear about what we are asking the civil service to do.

however that question is resolved, it is clear that it must provide strategic leadership, continuing to ensure that the civil service is free to speak ‘truth unto power’, to provide impartial and authoritative advice to Ministers as well as deliver essential services. it will also need to continue to be well managed. this means ensuring that the civil service is able to attract and retain the best staff and that the current reward package does not deter those who have a contribution to make. We know that civil servants are motivated by a commitment to public service more than pay, but a civil service that is under paid and under resourced is not sustainable and will leach talent.

Investment in skillsthe civil Service reform Plan sets out the government’s commitment to ensure that staff have the skills and expertise they

need to deliver effectively in an increasingly complex environment. it specifically sets out the need to develop “dynamic and flexible career path(s)” which links to commitments in the plan to supporting a more flexible approach to delivery of public services. the fDa fully supports this commitment and welcomes the opportunity to work with the government on this agenda.

in particular, the fDa welcomes the commitment to put skills, learning and development onto a stronger footing through five-year capability plans in each department. the identification of the key skills and capabilities required, with a clear plan as to how gaps are to be filled, will be a most welcome development. this needs to be reinforced with a commitment to invest in the skills and capabilities of all civil servants. Sadly, the experience to date is that spending on skills development is amongst the first casualties of the squeeze on discretionary spend resulting from austerity measures.

The FDA recommends that departments should have to report the training received by staff on a yearly basis, with a target of at least 95% of all staff having received a minimum of five days accredited training. There should be regular independent skills and training audits to ensure compliance. If departments do not spend an allocated sum on training, 120% of that underspend should be recovered centrally and re-distributed in the following year.

the fDa also supports work to ensure that the civil service has a strong, clear and relevant competency framework. But this

chapter 2Equipping the civil service to deliver in the modern context


chaPter 2

believe that there is a strong case for a more flexible approach to embrace the wider public sector and address issues such as diversity. We welcome the opportunity to work with the government on this agenda and are keen to do so. this is why the fDa is actively engaged in developing cross sector career opportunities in our work with civil service, health and local government employers.

The FDA recommends that the Civil Service Competency Framework is aligned to other public service frameworks.

Because of our commitment to developing cross-sector approaches, the fDa felt it was unfortunate that government Skills surrendered its Sector Skills council (SSc) licence rather than engage with local government for a common public sector SSc. Whilst Skills for Justice is a highly professional SSc with whom the fDa has a strong partnership, we do feel that there should

has to reflect the actual skills people need to deliver in the modern context. as such, the fDa has pressed for some years for an approach that seeks to join up not just within the civil service, but also across the wider public sector.

in his review of fair pay in the public sector, Will hutton stated that: “to increase the supply of candidates for top positions and reinforce public service management as a career, the government should facilitate greater opportunities for managers to move across different public services, and between the public and private sector”. the absence of a consistent competency framework across the public sector does not facilitate such opportunities.

the fDa’s work on professional development is entitled ‘Professionalism in public delivery’ precisely to recognise the need for change in how we should deliver flexible careers that extend beyond short term secondments. We

“too often budgeting and planning in Whitehall starts at the answer – cuts – and works backwards.”


chaPter 2

and recognition that high quality training and development outcomes need a resource commitment, especially in ‘time to train’, which is increasingly under attack.

however, whilst we welcome moves to extend secondment opportunities, the fDa feels that the approach to this needs to be better managed. We must ensure that those released on loan or secondment maintain contact with their originating department and/or profession so that upon return the best value can be obtained.

The FDA recommends that secondments/loans between departments and the wider public sector should be encouraged through a greater central management and resource with targets for departments to incentivise take up.

The FDA recommends that there should be regularly reviewed development plans for staff on release so they do not actually experience a career detriment from the arrangement.

the reform Plan looks at operational delivery, policy advice and programme and project management as key areas for development. the fDa broadly welcomes the move to ‘equality of esteem’ across areas of specialism,

be a bespoke SSc driving work for joined up training and development in the public sector.

The FDA recommends that public sector training should be joined up, so that public servants can access training across the whole sector. This should be supported by a bespoke Sector Skills Council to at least embrace the civil service and local government.

Civil service professionsthe fDa represents many of the key professions in the civil service and works closely with heads of professions in departments and nationally. as well as other areas (such as pay and reward) attention to the development of those in bespoke professions to help both the individual and the employer to focus on maximising opportunity is vital. the fDa knows from our own work that whilst (for example) economists and tax professionals want to be able to use their high levels of expertise in their chosen professional area, they generally want to do this in a way that offers them flexible and challenging careers with real advancement opportunities.

giving attention to developing management and leadership capability is a key factor, and the fDa shares the government’s view on this. however this requires investment,


the civil Service reform Plan commits to: “deliver a broader, deeper leadership talent pipeline that reflects the diversity of talent available, as well as the diversity of wider society”. the fDa welcomes the commitment to that and in particular the efforts of the civil service fast stream.

the fDa has been working to encourage a more diverse graduate entry across the sector. We do this through facilitating training and engagement by existing senior-level public servants of those who aspire to be so. We are committed to improve the gender split, ethnicity and sexual orientation at senior levels and also strongly advocate an approach to enhance socio economic diversity. the fDa believes that this is vital to delivering a senior public sector cadre that better represents the communities we seek to serve. We are currently engaged in work on this (see opposite page) with the civil service fast stream, local government national graduate development programme and a number of modern universities. as well as attracting diverse talent the engagement of existing public servants enhances career and development opportunity for members.

evidence of poor advancement rates for those in traditionally under-represented groups in the public sector is also a big concern. the fDa is engaging in this area with events and interactions in partnership with public sector employers to encourage and support those in under-represented groups who are seeking career advancement .We strongly believe that a real investment to back up the commitment would yield benefits.

The Government should provide investment to support the FDA’s work to improve diversity and leadership in the civil service and across the public sector.

moving from the ‘generalist’ tag that can cause resentment amongst highly specialised professionals delivering in areas not currently given the same recognition as the formal professions. in terms of skills investment we are pleased that operational delivery is now developing clear career pathways and we are pleased to be involved in the work around that.

Stability at senior levelsthe fDa has for several years argued that the current policy of rotating senior civil servants is inefficient and counter-productive. currently, a typical senior civil service (ScS) appointment is expected to be of four years’ duration but in practice is often less. Short tenures and a rapid rotation through a range of roles can lead to a lack of collective corporate memory. the fDa welcomes, therefore, the commitment that departments will take steps to identify the key posts that would benefit from greater stability of tenure in order to retain a more stable cohort. however, we believe that this commitment should extend beyond senior responsible officers and embrace other senior roles.

The FDA recommends that the Government’s commitment to reduce the turnover of senior responsible officers should be extended to other senior roles. This approach must be reinforced by explicit recognition and reward of those senior people who will now be required to remain in key posts for longer.

Supporting a more diverse public sector at senior levelsleadership and its quality are key to the future of the civil service. the fDa welcomes the proposals to further improve the fast stream, an area where we have been closely engaged. the fDa will be concerned to see that the promise of the fast stream is delivered, and that there are indeed opportunities for those completing their fast stream programme to move on to the more challenging senior roles.

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The public sector development and mentoring schemeThe FDA is engaged with the civil service fast stream, the local government graduate development programme, public sector employers and modern universities to provide a bespoke mentoring scheme and assessment centre experience, for students and existing public servants from traditionally under-represented backgrounds. The aim of this positive action initiative led by the FDA is to support the concept of a senior civil service of the future more closely resembling the community it seeks to serve. This is delivered by encouraging and supporting a diverse base of people to apply for graduate schemes and other public sector employment opportunities or promotions, in order to make a difference.

The experience of participants has been universally positive overall in reports back and surveys undertaken. There has, in

the space of just one year, been a number of successes from students getting onto different public sector schemes such as the summer diversity internship scheme. The number of different groups the centres have facilitated has also broadened out over the last two years to include:

l undergraduate and postgraduate students from under-represented backgrounds, both BME and socio-economic, from a variety of universities;

l internal civil service participants in partnership with diversity networks; and

l NEET graduates (Not in Employment, Education or Training).

fDa deliveringFDA work on leadership development at senior levelsThe FDA has been working with employers and partners since 2010 to build a series of initiatives with private sector and employer initiatives, as well as supporting staff from under-represented backgrounds who aspire to advance to senior levels.

This began with ‘Unlocking the SCS’, launched by Sir Gus O’Donnell in 2010 (and more recently supported by Sir Bob Kerslake). These events offer support and advice to those aspiring to the SCS. Whilst the FDA is fully committed to positive action for change, the success of these events is the focus on where we are now rather that how we might wish things

were. The ‘Unlocking’ model is also applied to ‘Professionals into Leadership’, launched in 2012 and targeted specifically at those in the formal professions who are seeking advancement. Again, these events focus on the reality of the moment whilst the FDA reserves the right to campaign for change.

‘Women into Leadership’ and ‘BME into Leadership’ focus on those groups and do include an element of focus on positive action for change but seeking consensus. However, the key theme remains supporting under-represented groups in accessing career opportunities.



“ in these times of higher public awareness of the hitherto opaque world

of tax avoidance, i want to highlight the work tax professionals in hMrc are doing to combat the behaviours of the promoters of aggressive tax schemes and those high net worth individuals and companies who try to profit from them. the ideas and efforts used to challenge these schemes come substantially from a relatively small number of operational teams. the tax professionals in those teams have developed root and branch investigation and analysis techniques and, followed where necessary by robust and focused legal action, they are highly successful in challenging and disrupting damaging practices and protecting large amounts of desperately needed revenue.

i am proud to lead one such team of 20 tax professionals that is in the forefront of the fight against determined rule breakers and highly-resourced tax dodgers. in 2012/13 my team achieved a yield of £242m, which

equates to around £12m for each member of the team. there is no sign yet of diminishing returns and the broader effects of the skill and commitment of teams such as the one i lead are immeasurable – overturning complex planning and signposting the downside of avoidance leads to second thoughts, and a change in behaviour for those tempted to make use of dodgy schemes.

the cost to the government of employing and supporting these highly-trained and dedicated civil servants is a small fraction of what it would cost to buy in the same services from the private sector. however, whilst the teams are dedicated, they are struggling to keep up with the support and technology needed to keep pace with the job and even in these straitened times key members are defecting for greatly enhanced salaries.

recognition of the work these teams do - and their value to society and to the public good - is long overdue.

Phil Pandolfo

hM revenue and customs specialist investigations - london

fDa members delivering


• theFreedomofInformationAct2000,which sets a presumption that if data exists it will be released on request, unless there are good reasons for not doing so;

• moreinformationexiststhandidinthepast - for example, detailed comparative data on the performance of public services in different parts of the country are now available on the internet; and

• theincreasedeffectivenessandindependence of Parliamentary select committees in holding to account the government and increasingly the civil service, as well as other public bodies.

to ensure the accountability of civil servants as well as Ministers, it is important that the data needed to understand the changes in the economy and society and the impacts of government policy is available to all and properly explained. the government’s open data agenda is increasing the volume of data available through initiatives such as data.gov.uk. But for this data to have maximum impact and reach it needs to be of high quality, accompanied by the information to inform its use and be easily accessible and combined. civil servants have a key role in making data available and explaining what it means. the impartiality of civil servants is a key aspect of this role. therefore sufficient resource and expertise should be made available to ensure the right data is available with the right information to explain.

The FDA believes that it is important to ensure that high-quality, easily accessible data is available to hold the Government to account, accompanied by the right information to inform its use. The FDA recommends therefore

the civil service must ensure that it retains the confidence of the public and elected politicians to provide impartial objective advice to the government of the day and deliver high quality public services. the simple fact is, that it is easy for all of us - from politicians to the public - to criticise the civil service, but like the nhS and the BBc it is envied across the world. We must be careful not to denigrate it needlessly or to adopt changes which would ultimately undermine its reputation that has been earned over many years.

at the same time these issues are extremely important - as evidenced by the recent house of lords select committee on the constitution report into accountability - and as already indicated the civil service must continue to evolve.

Ensuring accountability of civil servantsthe traditional protocol has been that Ministers take full responsibility to Parliament and the public for accepting the advice given by civil servants, and for the implementation of policies by civil servants responsible to them. this has always been an over simplification1 and it is now perceived as inadequate, but there is no clarity as to what should replace it. unless and until this is clarified, pointless argument and dispute about responsibilities and blame for mishaps will continue.

What is clear is that there is an increasing drive towards transparency in decision making, openness and inclusiveness in policy making. in addition, MPs, the media, and the public all enjoy much greater access to information with which to hold government to account. this, in part, results from:

chapter 3Getting accountability and impartiality right

1 Thus the resignation of Sir Thomas Dugdale in 1954 over the ‘Crichel Down’ affair was presented at the time as being despite his having no knowledge of the issue; more recently it transpired that he had had some significant involvement.

data.gov.uk

data.gov.uk


as a consequence of the implementation of priorities clearly set by Ministers.

a critical element of accountability is the relationship between civil servants and Parliamentary select committees. the osmotherly rules2 were established as guidelines to govern the interaction between civil servants and Parliament. it is time they were reviewed.

the fDa believes that there must be an appropriate balance between the rights of Parliamentary committees to refer issues of individual performance or conduct to departments and the right to a fair process for civil servants. the fDa is therefore recommending that a revised process, which has the confidence of both Parliament and civil servants, should be established. it is important to note that such moves may serve to put civil servants under the spotlight of public attention and that a benefit of this should be greater recognition of the excellent work delivered by the civil service.

The FDA believes it is vital that as far as is practical, a consensus is achieved on how the Osmotherly Rules should operate. A review should consider the experience of the other Parliaments in the UK and how the relationship between civil servants and politicians operates, often in a much more collaborative environment. The FDA recommends that the review should also consider wider issues around training and support for those giving evidence. It is essential that the FDA is fully involved in establishing a revised process.

Political appointments and impartialitythe ability of an incoming government of a different political persuasion to trust senior appointees to act in a politically impartial fashion is clearly of great constitutional significance. it was never more important than in supporting the transition to the coalition government in 2010, a constitutional challenge which our permanent, impartial

that sufficient impartial resource and expertise should be secured in the civil service to make data available, explain its meaning and maximise its use and reuse for holding the Government to account.

greater access to information has led to greater consciousness of the scope for better public services, and wider scope for questioning policy and implementation. it is therefore no longer realistic to presume that Ministers are totally accountable for every aspect of delivery. the key question is how to get the right balance.

there has always been a tension between civil servants and ministers on what accountability actually means in practice and this has been the subject of a number of reviews over time. at its extreme, Ministers believe they are accountable for matters or events to which they have no knowledge or responsibility, and civil servants feel they are easily scapegoated by Ministers for failure of policy or resource with no opportunity to defend themselves. often it is the search to blame an individual, Minister or civil servant, driven by a political agenda from the government, opposition, Parliamentary committee or the media. this can lead to tension when inevitably the answer is often more complex.

however trust between civil servants, the government they serve and Parliament is critical for the effective working of government and a healthy democracy. What is vital is that civil servants, Ministers, Parliament and the public understand how accountability operates and, to the extent that it is possible, there is general agreement on how public servants and Ministers are held to account for their actions.

the fDa believes civil servants and other public sector managers at various levels are responsible for delivery within the policy framework set by Ministers. it is appropriate therefore that they are accountable for delivery. they should not, however, be held accountable if the public is adversely impacted

2 The Osmotherly Rules set out detailed guidance for civil servants giving evidence before select committees. The Rules were first formally issued in May 1980 by E.B.C. Osmotherly, a civil servant in the Cabinet Office. They were revised most recently in July 2005.See chapter 1 for further details.

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2005.See


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officials of the highest integrity and ability. once i had laid down policy they were tireless in finding ways to deliver what i wanted”.4

it is, of course, understandable that a Minister with a large reforming agenda will see as vital the capability of the most senior civil servant running their department. it is therefore important that Ministers feel that they are able to influence the selection process to ensure that the right set of skills is being sought.

Ministers currently do have an opportunity to influence the selection process. however the ability of the civil Service commission to appoint individuals on the grounds of merit, who can also command the confidence of ministers, is the ultimate test. the commission must be free to appoint candidates on merit, but the outcome of that process must ultimately deliver high quality candidates in whom Ministers can have confidence. equally the commission must ensure that the senior ranks of the civil service have the skills that are required to deliver quality public services and be representative of the public they serve.

three alternative models are available in the united States, new Zealand and australia and are understood to be currently under consideration. the uS model is one of personal appointments, which may offer advantages in terms of Ministers’ personal confidence in their own appointees, but leads to huge practical disruption and cost at changes of administration and does not preserve political impartiality. in new Zealand, appointments are decided by a strong, independent State Services commission and although ministers are consulted, the relationship with them is formally mediated through a highly vertical contractual delivery model, with drawbacks for cross-government working. the australian model places permanent secretary appointments in the gift of the Prime Minister, and strongly entrenched expectations have ensured it is compatible with a politically impartial public service, but it gives individual Ministers potentially even less say than they enjoy now in the uK.

civil service was uniquely placed to manage and succeeded in doing so.

the ability to deal effectively with a variety of Ministers is a key competence for more senior civil servants generally, as is recognised in the new civil Service competency framework.3 civil servants who are recognised as having this competence will make progress in their career. the key point in the framework is ‘variety of Ministers’ - even within the same administration.

no civil servant’s career should be determined by a single Minister or government. indeed, continuity in appointment is important in maintaining expertise and historical background, and in carrying forward complex policies which often take several years to deliver and evaluate. the fDa rejects, therefore, the notion that it would be better to move to an approach in which there would be wholesale changes of senior civil servants after each general election.

in fact the government must be able to operate effectively when there is a change of Minister or administration. the closer a minister is to an individual appointment, the greater the danger that key officials will be seen as associated with a particular Minister or political affiliation, and this will also be seen as vital to advancement for those aspiring to reach the most senior levels of the civil service. in this way, there is a risk of creeping politicisation which should be resisted.

the work of all more senior civil servants combines direct involvement in, or influence over, advice to Ministers with delivery or management of the resulting decisions and policies. long experience has shown that when Ministers lay down clearly and firmly what they want to be done, it is delivered as effectively as possible. this was well put by lord tebbit some time ago:

“i had rather more fun at my first meeting of my key eight or ten officials. i told them that i wanted no misunderstandings…i would not be thwarted…from there on, the ice was broken and once again i found i had the benefit of

3 Competence 5 states ‘At senior levels, it’s about… building effective partnerships including relationships with Ministers.’

4 Norman Tebbit, Upwardly Mobile (Weidfeld and Nicolson, 1988), p. 182


relationship between a Minister and their civil servants.

the civil service can never have a monopoly of expertise on any particular policy area and at times that expertise is required, often for a limited period of time. appointment on merit rather than belief is the cornerstone of an impartial civil service and any civil servant, whether appointed for a fixed period or permanently, must have an ability to serve different Ministers or governments. however, it is clear that Ministers can often get frustrated at what they see is an overly long process of appointing individuals, particularly if this is focused on external rather than internal processes, and where this is for a time limited appointment.

The FDA believes - subject to the overriding principles of appointment on merit, and oversight by the Civil Service Commission - that it should be possible to devise a truncated appointments process to cater for exceptional circumstances where they may be an urgent need for a particular expertise.

Policy makingit is imperative for good government that policy making remains evidence-based, and that the evidence on which policy is based is of the highest quality, from wherever it is sourced. the fDa recognises that the civil service does not have a monopoly on the expertise needed to underpin high-quality policy advice. harnessing external expertise, through commissioning research and stakeholder consultation, plays a vital role in the policymaking process.

however, external advice may not be impartial, but the partiality of that advice may not always be obvious. Some think tanks are openly politically orientated, while others may give the appearance of independence. charities and other third sector bodies also, quite reasonably, have their own agendas. they may, in addition, be subject to financial pressures, or reliant on funding from organisations that may have a commercial

The FDA fully supports the current arrangements for appointment of permanent secretaries but recommends that these should be reviewed and outcomes tested on a regular basis.

Ministers come from a variety of backgrounds and to many, the role and relationship with civil servants will be new or different. Much is made of the need to ensure that civil servants have the right skill set for running modern public services yet ministers are often appointed on the basis of politics rather than skill or experience of their Ministerial or policy responsibilities.

The FDA recommends that consideration should be given to the support and training provided for Ministers in the operation of Government, role of the civil service and specific departmental policy responsibilities.

Ministers require high quality impartial advice from civil servants but also the ability to receive political advice from special advisors. they perform a vital task that helps maintain the impartiality of the civil service. the number of special advisors in government or a particular department has become a matter of political point scoring and their conduct called in to question by the actions of a few individuals. the fDa believes that the most important issue with respect to special advisors is not so much their number, which should not be artificially restricted, but the clarity of their role and relationship with the Minister and wider civil service.

The FDA does not believe the numbers of special advisors should be artificially limited. However, it recommends that greater emphasis should be placed on the training and oversight of special advisors. This should ensure that they have the capability to perform the vital task of providing Ministers with political advice and support, without the risk of becoming a barrier to the

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interest in the outcome of any research and policy options. Moreover, there may well be areas of policy development given that it will be difficult to find a truly impartial organisation with expertise in the field.

the fDa also believes that implementing policy should never be separate from making it. good policy is not only well-informed by the best expertise, but it is also policy that can be implemented, without costs that are disproportionate to the potential benefits. an impartial civil service is vital to assuring Ministers of robust advice on implementation options and costs. the civil service’s ability to “speak truth unto power” is an asset to be prized not to be condemned as obstructive.

the fDa therefore supports approaches to improve and extend the use of external expertise to support policy-making, but the civil service is the only organisation in the field whose remit is indivisible from, and truly complementary to, that of the government of the day.

The FDA firmly believes and recommends that the civil service must retain the job of presenting final policy advice to Ministers, making sure that advice is objective and reflects all the costs, evidence and options available. Ministers can then take policy decisions clear about the risks and benefits of all the alternatives.

“ in Basra, the main emphasis was in preparing the remaining three

provinces for Provincial iraqi control (Pic) and supporting and training the iraqi security forces to a level at which they were ready to assume responsibility for security. My role was to advise both the general officer commanding and his command group, and to develop and maintain relationships with partner nations and other government departments.

as an MoD civil servant, my deployment mirrored that of service personnel and i travelled, worked and was accommodated alongside my military colleagues. the tempo of operations demanded a 16- to 17-hour working day. the hours often felt gruelling and tiredness sometimes kicked-in, but a sense of purpose, duty and camaraderie were more than sufficient to keep going.

Despite frustrations, we did see clear, tangible success. Memorable for me was working with the united States, australian and italian forces, our own superior commands, and with the governor of Dhi Qar and his office, in drafting and negotiating the memorandum of understanding to transfer Dhi Qar province to iraqi control. in what could be a frustrating environment, it was important to celebrate success and it felt as though progress was being achieved.

My experience has highlighted the unique role the civil service has, working both at home and overseas, in delivering government policy to the benefit of both the uK and those nations we support.

Emma Frost Ministry of Defence (MoD) assistant head international, materiel strategy, previously assistant political advisor to the general officer commanding multi-national division (south east) in Basra, iraq.



than had been projected, civil servants as a whole - and the higher grades in particular - are witnessing a substantial fall in remuneration which for some could be as high as 25%.

for successive years, across more than one political administration, ‘pay restraint’ in the civil service has been seen as a political imperative. Whether to set an example to others or to give the impression of a prudent approach to public spending, freezing, capping or cutting, pay in the civil service has been as much a part of the Budget or autumn Statement as Black rod is to the opening of Parliament. With each year that passes the pay gap between public and private sector widens and issues of turnover, quality recruitment and ongoing morale worsen. incremental reductions in terms and conditions further weaken the resolve of those seeking a career in the civil service, making promotions unattractive to those who would otherwise develop their skills and utilise their experience to the benefit of the service.

Pay has been heavily restricted throughout the civil service over a number of years and successive administrations. While the political masters of the civil service have the independent Parliamentary Standards authority (iPSa) to apply independent thought and consideration to the payment of parliamentarians, free from political interference, in contrast the civil service pay arrangements and increases are subject to little more than a competition between all political parties to see who can reduce the real value of civil service pay the most. if transparency and independence is the order of the day for Ministers, why not for those delivering the Ministers’ agenda?

no well-functioning organisation in the private or public sector can exist without a motivated workforce focused on achieving its goals and purposes. as the cBi states: “engaging employees effectively, using their skills to best effect and rewarding them appropriately - including provision for their eventual retirement - are central to business success in a globalised economy.” it is clear from the fDa members’ survey and the civil service’s own People Survey that the civil service is not in a position to be able to present itself as the ideal employer on this or any other viable criteria - less than half of civil servants for example would recommend their department as a great place to work.

Staff turnover figures of 25 to 30% in a number of organisations and disciplines are reflected in stakeholder criticisms of inconsistency and lack of competence in some areas. hurried restructurings, inadequate succession planning and cuts to training lead to an ill-prepared and unstable workforce. When that is as prevalent in the managerial levels of the civil service as it is on the ‘front line’, the problem is exacerbated and permeates all areas of public service delivery.

Pay policyPay is the most obvious factor in the remuneration package, but it is by no means the only element. the pay freeze has hit civil servants hard over the last few years but the situation is made significantly worse by arbitrary increases in pension contributions that disproportionately affect higher earners. although the average increase in pension contributions will be 3.2% over the three years to 2015, many senior civil servants will end up paying 6% in higher contributions. compounded by higher levels of inflation

chapter 4How to improve morale and motivation to deliver for the nation


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since ScS numbers have been reduced by some 17% since 2010 and pay bill is down by 20% (nearly £100million) over the same period”.

the SSrB provides a useful model for a fair and considered approach to setting pay. it is not immune from arbitrary political pressure but is imbued with an evidence based process that invites engagement and transparency. like the iPSa, the SSrB can avail itself of evidence and make recommendations on that basis. in reality however, when it comes to implementation, the political imperative is often greater than the evidential steer given by the SSrB, which has weakened trust as well as confidence in the process.

the fDa would be interested in exploring new models for setting pay parameters in the civil service both for the ScS and other senior civil service grades. it is appropriate for all relevant considerations to be part of that process, including market comparisons and the employer-employee relationship, not just the political agenda.

The FDA recommends that the responsibility for setting civil service pay policy for all grades represented by the union should be transferred to a strengthened, independent and autonomous salary review body. A recent survey of MPs showed significant support for this position with majority support from politicians in all main political parties (Com Res Survey – January 2013).

in northern ireland some progress has been made recently. following a review undertaken by the SSrB and extensive discussions with the fDa and others, the northern ireland civil service has introduced a new pay system that is widely seen as addressing the fundamental flaws of the previous system. in summary, the new system shortened pay ranges, eliminated overlaps in pay ranges, introduced a new performance-dependent progression system and assimilated staff on to the appropriate range. the fDa believes that not only is the end result broadly supported,

the current process of ‘negotiating’ pay in the civil service does not serve anyone adequately. Staff are not receiving fair reward, as demonstrated by the continual fall in the number of positive responses on pay in the cabinet office People Survey: just 26% of all grades in 2012 thought they were paid reasonably in the civil service compared with people doing a similar job in other organisations (down from 31% in 2010). in relation to pay and performance the results are also pretty damning of the current arrangements: 31% felt that their pay adequately reflected their performance in 2012 compared with 38% in 2010. it is not tenable for the government, the civil service or the public to believe that this situation can remain as a long term phenomenon without there being significant consequences for the quality and motivation of staff and the quality and efficiency of public service delivery.

Some support for this contention can be found in the most recent report of the independent Senior Salaries review Body (March 2013). the SSrB makes clear in its report that “the problems with the ScS pay system are deep seated. We have drawn attention to them in successive reports”. in addition to expressing disappointment that the government has not proposed a fundamental reform of the ScS pay system, the SSrB states clearly that “We do not believe that it is possible to reform the civil service without reforming the ScS pay structure”. Whilst acknowledging that reform may be difficult at a time of severe restraint on public sector pay, they “nevertheless believe that it is possible to do so much more than the government proposes, particularly

“We do not believe that it is possible to reform the civil service without reforming the ScS pay structure”.SSRB Report 2013


to continue in this way, as is the government’s confirmed intent, poses serious risks to the capacity of the civil service to recruit and retain the highest quality employees. as the civil Service commission noted in its 2011-2 annual report: “there appears little doubt that the government’s tight cap on senior civil service salaries has driven down overall pay rates. But with this there is an increasing danger that it is also limiting the fields of candidates for some jobs, where the salary on offer is simply not competitive. this can make it difficult to attract rising stars from outside the civil service, who are not at a stage in their career where they are able or willing to take a sizeable reduction in salary.”

the problems raised by an expanding gulf between pay in the civil service and comparable employments are not unsolvable but action does need to be taken. continuation of the current approach is simply not viable. the fDa is making a number of recommendations which we believe will help to address the current situation and which could help to avert an exodus of skills and experience from the civil service.

The FDA recommends that the Cabinet Office should initiate a dialogue with non-executive directors on departmental boards about the level of remuneration paid to private sector leaders, in order to retain key skills and capabilities.

but the process of developing the new arrangements has much to commend it.

The FDA recommends that the Cabinet Office should instigate, in early course, a review process similar to that undertaken for the SCS in Northern Ireland to examine and make recommendations in relation to the analogous pay system in Great Britain.

The reality of pay for senior managers and professionalsMuch is made of crude averages comparing overall public and private sector salaries but this actually reveals little in terms of gleaning a picture of the pay profile of senior public servants. in fact, the higher up the salary scale you look, the greater the disparity.

Total remunerationWhen looking at total remuneration the situation is even worse. Many erroneously believe that the defined benefit pension arrangements available to civil servants more than compensate for any shortfalls in basic salary. again the higher up the earnings profile you go in the civil service, the more apparent it becomes that this is a woefully simplistic misrepresentation. as the SSrB annual report for 2013 revealed, the highest earning civil servants are in receipt of total remuneration packages worth only one quarter of comparable employees in the private sector (£167,000 for ScS grade 3s compared with £659,300 in the private sector).

Civil service (CS) grade

CS median salary as % of wider public sector median salary

CS median salary as % of private sector median salary

Grade 7 94 72

Grade 6 83 65

SCS 1 87 77

SCS 1A 80 73

SCS 2 67 58

SCS 3 n/a 43

(Sources: Grades 6 & 7 – IDS March 2012 Regional Pay Report; SCS - SSRB 2013 Annual Report, Cabinet Office April 2011)

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the cabinet office recommends raising the number of the contracted hours.

fDa members recognise their need to be flexible in terms of their hours and approach to work. the fact that many routinely work what amounts to an extra day a week for free cannot be said to reflect a lack of commitment. government should be recognising that while cheap in the short term, perpetuating this situation is probably not the best way to motivate staff to perform well and may result in errors and inefficiencies that cost far more in the long term. the fDa believes that the government, as the employer, has a responsibility to take the long-hours culture seriously. currently, the fDa report that fewer than one in five civil service employers record the excess hours worked. Without such records it is impossible to assess either the problem or the solution which may rest in wider concerns discussed in this White Paper such as workloads, staffing levels and skills.

glimmers of hope do exist. there are many positive anecdotal reports about the benefits of the extra flexibility about working hours and locations the civil service in london adopted during the london 2012 olympics. for many, this opened their eyes, and managers’ eyes, about the opportunities that technology and a bit of forward thinking can afford to the civil service. civil servants were told that the lessons learned from the summer of 2012 would pay long term dividends for ways of working. So far, evidence of this has been in short supply.

technology is improving, albeit slowly in some cases, so remote access and teleconferencing are enabling staff to travel less and work more. however, location flexibility in some places is leading to an over reliance on hot-desking, where flexibility is jettisoned as teams rush to their office in the morning to ensure they secure an appropriate workspace. Departments collected experience data and views as a result of the london 2012 experiments with different working flexibilities - the fDa believes more should be done to implement

Pay is the most significant, but not the only element of the reward package that requires considered reform. currently each element is examined, reviewed and invariably reduced in isolation. Pensions, pay, annual leave and other workplace benefits that form part of the remuneration and reward package are each reformed with no read across to any other element. the balance between central civil service ‘guidance’ and departmental autonomy is delicate and in the view of the fDa, not currently fit for purpose. When in practice the vast majority of departments slavishly follow the central guidance and don’t consider the local appropriateness of such guidance except in extremis, then opportunities for early intervention and timely reform are missed. the evidence from the pay remit guidance to departments over the last few years is testament to this. the straitjacket of pay freeze and pay caps has resulted in some acute recruitment and retention issues, mindful of this the latest guidance allows departments some limited flexibility to address this with extra pay beyond the 1% cap.

The FDA recommends that civil service employers should be allowed sufficient funding and flexibility to address recruitment and retention concerns before they became acute.

The employment relationshipin their 2012-13 review of terms and conditions, the cabinet office presented an objective to provide a ‘modern employment offer’ to civil servants. lacking the necessary engagement with staff around what that concept actually might mean, the result in many places is an arbitrary lengthening of hours of work, reduced leave and reduced flexibility for employees while employer flexibility is enhanced. the message sent to existing employees is one of distance and lack of understanding and appreciation. the 2013 fDa survey of working hours found that one in five members routinely work more than ten hours above their contracted weekly hours. however, instead of working with staff to address this excessive hours working, guidance for departments from


address issues rather than merely informing employees of the outcomes of decisions. too often performance management systems are designed to deliver headline results or arbitrary quotas and are overly bureaucratic, rather than addressing real issues of performance.

the fDa can help in this process, providing management are genuinely willing to listen and respond on the basis of the evidence produced. to do that management must have the trust of Ministers to pursue positive reform.

The FDA recommends that there should be fresh engagement between employers and the union on performance management that is genuinely about improving performance and recognising achievement. Any system of performance management will not succeed if it does not have the confidence of staff and this should be a key objective.

the lessons learned, not just in london but across the uK.

The FDA recommends that the Cabinet Office should review and address the long-hours culture in the civil service and take forward lessons on flexibility learned during the London 2012 Olympics.

the vast majority of civil servants are committed public servants who have a desire to deliver high quality public services. however, the twin issues of addressing poor performance and rewarding excellence remain steadfastly prominent in employees’ criticisms of the civil service. only 37% of those participating in the civil Service People Survey 2012 believed that poor performance was dealt with effectively while only 38% believed that their civil service employer motivated them to help it achieve its objectives.

the conclusion that should be drawn from this is that civil service employers should openly welcome engagement with staff to

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“My job is to develop the best possible relationships and partnership with the

Bulgarian government, politicians, local authorities, media and others with influence. this is in order to get the best possible results for the uK - especially for British business and exporters - in protecting our country from threats and in looking after British tourists and residents here who need our help.

to give one example, this year, through a personal meeting with the Bulgarian Prime Minister, i made sure a major uK investor in Bulgaria got the contractually agreed licences they needed to complete their business. they have told the government that this will directly contribute to them earning £44 million over six years.

Jonathan AllenhM ambassador to Bulgaria


We will continue to present evidence and recommendations to inform and influence the debate on how a world-class civil service can be secured and, critically, to ensure that reform is influenced by those whose commitment and professionalism deliver the services on which the public relies.

this White Paper represents the start of the fDa’s campaign - Delivering for the nation: Securing a World-class civil Service. our members believe passionately in a world-class civil service and care deeply about the services they provide. the fDa wants to work with those who share our passion for improving the civil service, public service delivery, and the working lives of civil servants.

Next steps

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Documents

FDA - Delivering for the Nation - White Paper