Civil Service reform requires thorough planning
Summary
In the report, ‘Change in Government: the Agenda for Leadership’ (HC 714), the Government are said to have failed to recognise the scale of reform required for the Civil Service and to set out a sufficient programme for change.
The Coalition Government requested a sizeable challenge for the Civil Service: to transfer power out of Whitehall and into communities, and as a result fundamentally change the way it works.
The Public Administration Committee found that while the Government seeks to embrace change, they have failed to define a practical resolution in that a lack of coordination from the centre and strong political leadership will result in the failure of key policies like the 'Big Society' agenda.
The Committee recommended a comprehensive change programme articulating clearly what the Government believes the Civil Services is for, how it must change and with a timetable of clear milestones.
The change programme must also include proposals for the Civil Service to retain and develop the new skill sets required to meet the demands of the Big Society policy agenda, and address long-running concerns about the decline in specialist expertise in Whitehall, the failure to innovate and take risks, and the failure to work across departmental silos.
The Government should consider the development of a new Haldane model of accountability or they must explain how the current model remains relevant.
The new realities of devolving power out of Whitehall to local government and elsewhere should be codified in the Civil Service governance structure.
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