A group of former officials and influential commentators on the civil service have urged ministers to withdraw guidance preventing officials from speaking at public-facing events.
A letter to The Times, whose signatories include former Downing Street director of communications Alastair Campbell, erstwhile Treasury second permanent secretary John Kingman, Institue for Government director Dr Hannah White and CSW’s co-editors Jess Bowie and Suzannah Brecknell, calls the new guidance a “mistake”.
The internal guidance, published last month, prevents mid-ranking and senior officials from speaking at events with Q&A sessions or where media are expected to attend.
“Effective government relies on public servants, whose salaries are paid by the taxpayer, hearing directly from businesses, charities, academics and citizens to help them make better policy. They should be able to explain government activity to those same groups,” says the letter, which was also signed by Matt Tee, former perm sec for government communications and onetime chief executive of the news regulator IPSO; and Amanda Spielman, former chief inspector of education, children’s services and skills at Ofsted.
It quotes comments from Ruth Anderson, Labour’s Cabinet Office spokesperson in the House of Lords, saying there is a “responsibility on our civil servants to engage every day”.
The letter, which was backed by several think tanks, policy institutes and trade unions representing civil servants, said the unpublished guidance “contradicts” Baroness Anderson’s assertion.
“It is causing confusion and a chilling effect on public discussion. It should be withdrawn,” it said.
During the same debate in the House of Lords on 2 July, Baroness Anderson said it is a “core principle of government in this country is that ministers are ultimately accountable for decision-making” and that it is therefore “right that we are the principal representatives of the government in the public sphere”.
Several former senior civil servants have already spoken out against the guidance, including Baroness Spielman, who warned: "Government grinds too slowly and this will jam the works completely."
And writing for CSW earlier this month, UK Open Government Network chair Kevin Keith – who is also among those to put his name to the letter to The Times – said it is "hard to understand... how we have drifted so far away from the realisation in the Fulton Report: that ‘open government is possible’ and it strengthens rather than undermines government effectiveness".