The promise in the King’s Speech to strengthen and safeguard the civil service could be this government’s “Northcote-Trevelyan moment”, according to the Institute for Government.
King Charles said in yesterday’s speech that the government will “bring forward proposals that strengthen the delivery, accountability, innovation and productivity of the civil service” and that these proposals “will also seek to safeguard its impartiality and core values, to enhance trust and confidence in the institutions of government”.
Responding to the announcement, the IfG's director Hannah White and its executive director for impact and and fluence Alex Thomas describe it as an “essential and overdue commitment” which has “the potential to have long lasting positive consequences for the way government works in the UK”.
The duo also argued that, with Dame Antonia Romeo as cabinet secretary, now is “the best opportunity for years to move the dial on the effectiveness of the civil service”
“Senior Whitehall figures are talking about this as a ‘Northcote-Trevelyan moment’, referring to the 19th century report that founded the civil service in its current form, enshrining merit-based appointments and impartiality,” White and Thomas said.
“Including such a commitment in the King’s Speech also suggests that the government is seriously – and rightly – thinking about legislating to address these issues. We can expect progress over the course of this year – ideally a rapid white paper followed by legislation.”
They said this is “an exciting and important moment to improve how government works” but “unlike after the Northcote-Trevelyan report, the government cannot afford to wait for years to make change happen”
White and Thomas said there is an opportunity to both “sharpen” the way in which the civil service is held to account for performing well, and to “strengthen its underpinning qualities of professional and honest advice and administration”.
The government should set out in statute the role of the cabinet secretary, who they report to, their authority over their colleagues and what the mechanism is for their dismissal, they argue.
Legislation should also “identify those functions that are properly carried out by the civil service – like setting standards for finance, maintaining capability for resilience and crisis response, and properly managing and delivering complex projects”.
A bill can then set out how ministers – and the prime minister – can hold their officials to account for successfully carrying these out, the think tankers suggest.
Legislation would also be an opportunity for Romeo to expand the civil service code and its values to include ‘curiosity’, “which she has rightly been pushing in her first months in the job”, they said.
“Civil servants need to move away from the passivity which has characterised too much of their engagement with the government’s agenda and to have the confidence to lean in to delivering policies and solving problems on behalf of ministers.”
White and Thomas said there is also an opportunity for Romeo to look at “the size, shape, skills and performance management capabilities of the civil service, and take action to address how technology and AI will change how government works”.
The IfG has repeatedly called for a new statute for the civil service to clearly set out who runs the civil service and the standards to which ministers, parliament and the public should hold them.
White and Thomas said legislation has for too long been resisted by civil servants and ministers “who see the benefits of ambiguity in their responsibilities, but fail to recognise the problems it causes”.
In the absence of such clarity, “we have seen how confusion created by ill-defined accountabilities can lead to a blame game between politicians and civil servants over issues ranging from the appointment of Peter Mandelson, to whether quangos are blocking growth, to who is responsible for delays to the government’s agenda”, they said.
“Clarity about the role and functions of the civil service will improve the relationship between ministers and officials, as well as making the government more effective,” they added.