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Ministers should appoint civil service chiefs
Government departments should be led by chief executives appointed directly by ministers to ensure that their policies are effectively implemented, according to a new report called The Dead Generalist, which is published by Demos on Monday 13 September 2004.
Author Ed Straw argues that every new government should be able to appoint senior managers in departments to deliver its policy programme. He compares the proposed relationship between ministers and departmental heads to the corporate roles of chairman and chief executive; ministers would devise strategy, leaving chief executives in charge of implementation.
The so-called ‘independence’ of the civil service has created an organisational culture that is inherently resistant to change and hampers attempts by government to modernise public services. The debate about civil service reform in the wake of the Gershon review has focused on regional relocation, job cuts and the false choice between ‘bureaucrats’ and frontline workers.
But Straw argues that the time has come for government to address a more fundamental civil service problem: the unsuitability of its structure and management culture for delivering public service reform.
“Historically, the title of permanent secretary is used to provide continuity between governments,” says Straw. “In today’s world, neither this degree of permanence nor a secretary is needed. Appointments should be driven by the ability to accomplish a project which has been made an electoral commitment.”
The promotion of ‘gifted generalists’ to the top of the civil service has meant that specialist and professional management skills are undervalued in government departments, which control massive budgets. The civil service policy of rotating senior staff from department to department means that experience and specialist knowledge are often lost, and departments have poor ‘organisational memory’ about what works and what doesn’t.
Straw argues that the ‘cult of independence’ makes the civil service unsuitable for delivering government reform programmes. Although the independence of the civil service has no legal or constitutional basis, the threat of ‘politicisation’ is used to avoid the civil service being directly accountable for service delivery.
“Imagine becoming chief executive of a large organisation and being told that the entire management are ‘independent,’” he says. “You have no control over recruitment, promotion and pay and that the senior staff operate as a separate organisation with a mind of its own. Modern organisations do not and cannot work like that, and neither can government.
“Today government’s role is mostly about service delivery. Ministers are accountable to the electorate for delivery of improved public services, and yet they appoint almost no one to oversee it.”
Recommendations for civil service reform in The Dead Generalist include:
- Regulation of all ministerial behaviour should be undertaken by an organisation separate from the main civil service;
- National scorekeeping of unemployment figures, waiting lists, crime rates, school outputs should be kept independently of the civil service;
- A central government equivalent of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment should be published;
- A national equivalent of the Audit Commission should be set up to identify and promote best practice;
- Graduate recruitment should end, and all civil service posts should be open to external recruitment, replacing the culture of ‘job for life’.
Notes to editors
- is published by Demos on Monday 13 September 2004. The report can be ordered from Central Books by calling 020 8986 5488, price £10, or downloaded free as a PDF from http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/deadgen.
- Ed Straw is a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, writing in a personal capacity. His previous Demos pamphlet was called Relative Values: Support for relationships and parenting.
- Demos is an independent think tank with a long-standing interest in public service transformation. Previous books on the civil service include Innovate from Within (2002) and Transforming the Dinosaurs (1993).