Civil servants understand which priorities they should be focusing on but don’t think their departments have the capability to deliver on them, according to results from a new survey conducted by Civil Service World and think tank Re:State.
The Alternative People Survey – building on a smaller piece of research carried out last year by CSW and Re:State – polled civil servants on 24 questions within four themes: talent and performance management; departmental performance; procurement; ministers and special advisers; and technology and artificial intelligence.
Almost two-thirds (74%) of respondents agreed with the statement “I am clear about what my department’s priorities are”.
But more than half (53%) disagreed that their department “possesses the capability and capacity to deliver its priorities”. Senior civil servants were most likely to feel their departments lacked the right capability and capacity to deliver their priorities (65%).
On a department-by-department basis, these figures were highest in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (66%) and the Department of Health and Social Care (65%)
The results in the survey also suggest potential trouble for Pat McFadden’s plans to create a “test and learn” culture in the civil service where teams are empowered to “experiment, innovate and try new things”. The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said in December that he wanted the civil service to “adopt the ‘test-and-learn’ mindset of Silicon Valley”.
Less than a quarter (24%) of poll takers said they think government “encourages and rewards civil servants who try to innovation”, with 52% disagreeing.
Poll-takers also felt processses were hurting their ability to carry out their jobs. Some 70% agreed with the statement: “I often feel that processes get in the way of me performing my job”. And senior civil servants were most likely to agree process got in the way (83%).
Respondents to the survey were given the opportunity to confidentially share their views or experiences of the civil service or their department in a free-text space at the end of the survey. Many expressed concerns about capability, stifling of innovation, and processes getting in the way.
One civil servant wrote: “The expressed desire for innovation is completely at odds with the capacity and autonomy of staff to put any innovation in place to improve efficiency or outputs.”
Another described their department is "is too heavy with too many SCS and G6 trying to manage too few people and introducing multiple layers of oversight, stifling innovation, enterprise and stopping any risk-taking".
Another said: “While processes are necessary to ensure careful guardianship of public money, they do definitely tie one hand behind people’s back on occasion in delivering innovative results."
A civil servant who had come in from the private sector said they found "the slowness of the civil service processes and procedures very frustrating" and that it had "stopped me in being able to complete my job far too many times".
They added that "people are great and super motivated despite the constant barriers put before them".
Another civil servant said: "The key thing holding back the civil service are systems and processes broken by overengineering or excessive bureaucracy. Those broken systems across HR, procurement, finance, risk taking etc. all then manifest in poor performance, low productivity [and] poor decisions.”
The comments bear resemblance to those made by Keir Starmer in a message to civil servants in December. The prime minister, following up his controversial comments that "too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline”, praised officials’ “dedication, professionalism and strong sense of public service”, but said they face “too many obstacles”.
Starmer said: “Too often, needless bureaucratic impediments, silos, processes about processes, all impede your ability – and therefore also my ability – to deliver for the people we are here to serve. And from the conversations that I have had with many of you over the past five months, I know these barriers frustrate you every bit as much as they frustrate me.”
The survey responses also suggest civil servants do not believe departments are taking evaluation seriously enough. Just 18% of respondents agreed that their department “consistently evaluates policies and projects and then consistently applies these lessons to future policymaking and implementation”, with 59% disagreeing with the statement.
You can see the full results of the survey here.