Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA union, has lamented the government’s lack of pace and clear objectives to drive reform since it came to power last July.
Delivering a speech at the union’s annual conference this morning, Penman, whose union represents mid-to-senior level officials, said civil servants are “hungry for reform” and urged the government to “get on with it”.
“Almost 12 months in with the new government and we’re nowhere near the sort of discussion we need to be having, for that once in a generation reform that the civil service so badly needs,” Penman said.
Referring to the forthcoming Spending Review next month, he added: “In this spending round it may not feel like the sun is shining, but we do now need to fix the roof. The new government has been given a once in a generation majority.
“It has set itself high ambitions and we all know that there is much to be done to improve public services. It needs a strong, skilled and motivated workforce to deliver them. That’s why we need to get on with it.”
The union boss warned that reform of the state “will take time to design, negotiate and implement, and all too soon ministers will be focusing on the next election”.
Penman also slammed some of the language used by the Labour government to describe civil servants, and suggested it is ministers, not officials, who have been loathe to make tough decisions.
He said: “Civil servants don’t get to decide the size of government, ministers do. They don’t create regulations or regulators to enforce them, ministers do.
“So, let’s cut out the language of a “bloated state”, of “blockers” and “the usual suspects”.
“Civil servants can be the engine room of reform, they are hungry for it. But reform has to have substance. Being in government means it needs to be more than a buzzword in a speech. There has to be clear political objectives, a matching of resources to commitments and a plan.”
The FDA general secretary challenged ministers to use this spending round to set out “a clear plan for improved public services and a people plan to match”.
This, he said, should also include a plan to address the problems of civil service pay.
"It's 30 years since pay was last reformed," he said. "It's inefficient and ineffective. It gives me no pleasure to say this – but for too long, it's been ministers who have been comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline when it comes to civil service pay.
"Always in the ‘too difficult’ pile whilst bemoaning the inability to recruit key skills or complaining about churn rates."
He called on government to develop “a plan for how services will be delivered differently” and for how the civil service can “attract, grow, and retain the right talent for the next decade, not simply be fixated with the staffing levels in the last one”. Penman also said ministers will need to make a plan for what “unlocking the digital and AI revolution can actually mean in reality”.