The Civil Service Commission today published Recruitment Principles 2014 (December), which includes the new rules.
According to the Commission, once a shortlist of suitable permanent secretary candidates has been created by a selection panel, “the names of the appointable candidates should then be put forward to the Prime Minister in a panel report from the First Civil Service Commissioner summarising the selection process and the panel’s assessment of the candidates.
“The Prime Minister must take the final selection decision from the appointable candidates, in consultation with the Head of the Civil Service and the First Civil Service Commissioner.”
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude started campaigning for ministers to be able to select their permanent secretaries from a list of approved candidates in 2012, but previously had his efforts rejected by the commission.
However, CSW reported that in September 2014, shadow Cabinet Office minister Michael Dugher said at an Institute for Government (IfG) event that Labour were backing Maude’s approach.
When the changes were mooted in October, it was proposed that they would apply to Heads of Department, irrespective of grade. In the new rules, the change applies to all competitions at permanent secretary grade only.
The Commission adds: “The Prime Minister must make his decision only from those candidates and, as the law requires, on merit.”