Analysis

Let’s hope ministers don’t put it to their blind eye

Community budgets may be overtaken by their big brothers

Private offices should be boosted by letting secretaries of state recruit experienced policy and implementation advisers, says Akash Paun

Many civil servants work in the government analogue service

It’s not clear that the MoJ is ready for its next big challenge

There is a new dynamic in the relationship between select committees and government departments. The Wright reforms agreed in 2010 – including the election of committee chairs by the House, and of committee members by their parties – have changed the way committees work and what they expect of their departments, while the public profiles of committees have been raised.

Civil Service Learning is struggling to reverse a terrible trend.

The annual drama of the Budget is a dysfunctional relic and should be scrapped, says Julian McCrae. Ministers and civil servants have bigger – and more nourishing – fish to fry.

The Civil Service Commission can help civil servants flag complaints about breaches of the Civil Service Code. First civil service commissioner, Sir David Normington, explains how his organisation has just launched an 'Open Week' to encourage civil servants to ask questions and engage with them:

Ministers & officials must also put those lessons into practice.

On February 21, a seminar was held in the Foreign Office to mark the publication of a book by the head of the FCO Historical Section, Gill Bennett, called ‘Six Moments of Crisis’. The book discusses six major foreign policy decisions taken since the Second World War. These were the decision to send British troops to Korea in 1950; the Suez invasion; the first application to join the European Economic Community; the withdrawal of British forces from East of Suez; the expulsion of 109 Soviet diplomats; and the sending of the Task Force to recover the Falklands.

The number of people volunteering in England has increased remarkably. The new Community Life Survey shows 30 per cent volunteered at least once a month in 2012, compared to 25 per cent in 2010-11. As well as this ‘formal’ volunteering (ie, with a group, club or organisation), 35 per cent were involved in ‘informal’ volunteering (ie, as an individual) at least once a month, compared to 29 per cent the previous year.

New Zealand is reforming its government structures to promote cross-departmental working. Dr Jonathan Coleman explains how.

Depts must embrace the publication of perm secs’ objectives.

Even without ‘impact assessments’, impacts need assessing.

It should transform procurement,  says Chris Chant, not just shave a bit off prices

I think most civil servants would say that they are pretty sensitised to the public service values that are supposed to govern their behaviour. I suspect few would be able to recite word for word the seven Nolan principles of public life – but that is hardly surprising. For civil service purposes, they have been condensed into four: integrity, honesty, objectivity, and impartiality. The last Civil Service People Survey showed 88 per cent of civil servants were aware of the Civil Service Code.

The ‘bureaucrat bashers’ are only making things worse

Pruned hard, the civil service will be lost without new skills.

Last week the Civil Service Commission published its response to two proposals in the Civil Service Reform Plan for greater ministerial involvement in senior civil service appointments. The most discussed proposal would give ministers the right to choose their permanent secretaries from a number of candidates judged suitable by a selection panel. In our response, the commission actively supports the involvement of ministers in permanent secretary competitions and has agreed some further changes to strengthen that involvement. But we stop short of giving ministers a choice. That would, we believe, be a step too far.

The Social Mobility Strategy is facing a gale-force headwind

We were both honoured to attend and be part of the Civil Service Awards last month. From Stranraer to Bournemouth, the outstanding work of civil servants was celebrated – whether they’d delivered roads or the Olympics, run prisons or Jobcentres. In one evening we recognised the very best of the civil service and left in no doubt that we lead some of the most talented professionals.