Westminster's Transfer Season
by Tommy Moody
16/07/09 Demos' concerns about turnover extend beyond MPs, writes Tommy Moody
On last Sunday’s Politics Show Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell expressed his concern at the ‘culture of churn’ that has pervaded recent ministerial appointments, referring to a research briefing by Demos. Proudly holding a coffee mug adorned with the faces of footballing icons from his favourite team, Manchester United, Sir Gus – probably the most powerful civil servant - spoke of the need to balance the recruitment of a diverse spectrum of staff alongside the ‘retention of senior talent’ in the Civil Service.
Of the three faces pictured on the mug only the boisterous Wayne Rooney remains in his present position at the club. Yet even an injury-hampered Alan Smith had managed a 31 month spell at the Red-Devils before signing to Newcastle United. That is more than double the average tenure for British Ministers, which has now fallen to just 1.3 years per department since 2005.
His concern over retaining senior civil servants led Sir Gus to defend performance-related pay and bonuses, acknowledging that top-tier staff are in real danger of being snatched up privately as well as by more lucrative positions within the public sector. Yet as Sir Gus decried the short-termism of Westminster I wondered if he’d read the same report that I’d worked on.
With a rapid turnover of MPs, the Demos report assumes that unelected civil servants quietly remain in tenure behind-the-scenes. If Sir Gus is concerned about senior civil servants also moving on too quickly, just who is running the departments? The truth is we know very little about the faceless bureaucrats who crouch quietly behind the tumult of Westminster. Are we to assume from Sir Gus’ comments that rather than weathered policy makers, government departments are being staffed by armies of fast-streamers?
Sir Gus certainly has a point in prioritising the retention of senior talent within his ranks. In the end who wouldn’t want to combine the seasoned opportunism of Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistlerooy with the youthful flair of Karim Benzema? But until we come face-to-face with his starting line-up in full, the tactics in the Civil Service remain uncertain.