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Whitehall reorganisation and Ministerial reshuffles will not tackle the root of the Government’s recent problems: an unreformed civil service, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr).

The Prime Minister acknowledged at PMQs recently that there had been “systemic failure, over a very long period” at the Home Office, while weaknesses in financial accounting in the NHS have flagged up long-standing problems with civil service accountability for delivery.

ippr’s year long research on civil service reform is based on interviews with 40 senior civil servants - including 10 Permanent Secretaries - and 8 ministers and is due to be published in July. It will show that recent failures in policy and administration are the result of an “accountability-deficit” in an unreformed civil service. It will argue that the central doctrine of ‘ministerial responsibility’ – which holds that ministers, and ministers alone, are accountable for everything that happens in their departments – is no longer relevant. It quotes ministers who feel increasingly frustrated with civil service performance and the way it ducks accountability, as well as civil servants who recognise the need for change. 

ippr’s report will recommend that:

• Civil servants should be accountable for their performance and ministers should be accountable for policy and resources. In so doing the roles and responsibilities of minister and civil servants will be greatly clarified, making it clear who is responsible for what. This would make both ministers and civil servants more genuinely accountable.
• A Civil Service Commission (similar to the one in New Zealand) should be created to appoint Permanent Secretaries with review their performance with their Secretaries of State. The Commission would also set the strategic direction of the civil service, performance management of permanent secretaries, and other core capabilities like information technology and human resources across Whitehall. The Civil Service Commission would be empowered to remove poor performing permanent secretaries from post and to reward high performers.
• Parliamentary Select Committees should be strengthened and given the power to hold civil servants and ministers to account. The rules protecting civil servants should be abolished and committees should have the additional resources needed to scrutinise minister’s policy decisions.
• There should be a Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, as there is in Australia and New Zealand, which provides a strong centre but which is also open, transparent and accountable to Parliament.

Nick Pearce, ippr Director said:

“Events in recent weeks have exposed significant weaknesses in the way Whitehall operates. Rather than thinking that these can be resolved by moving ministers or restructuring departments, the Government needs to recognise that lasting change will only be achieved through civil service reform. With its focus downstream on public service reform, there has been no coherent reform strategy for Whitehall.

“The civil service lacks a culture of accountability which significantly undermines its ability to deliver. Recent problems at the Home Office and in the NHS highlight the importance of achieving a high performing Whitehall which can deliver policy reforms.

“We have a choice before us. If you hold ministers accountable for everything that happens at their department, including departmental operations, you will never get a high performing civil service. Without greater accountability, the only other option is to politicise the civil service. We believe that the way forward is to make the civil service accountable for what it does. This will drive up performance and rectify longstanding problems.”

Notes to editors

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 3 May, Tony Blair said: “There has been systemic failure—that is entirely accepted—over a very long period.”

A survey of the Senior Civil Service (SCS) last year revealed that just 16 per cent of senior officials felt that poor performance is effectively dealt with. In the Home Office just 6% of senior officials felt that poor performance was effectively dealt with.

The principle of ‘ministerial responsibility’ was developed in a pre-democratic era. The eighteenth century Home Secretary, Lord Shelbourne, presided over a Home Office which employed one clerk and 10 civil servants but today it employs over 70,000 officials.

The new Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell has launched a series of reform initiatives intended to improve civil service performance. Most significantly the Departmental Capability Reviews (DCR) and the Professional Skills for Government programme. The DCRs in particular are designed to improve performance management and accountability across Whitehall. Under ippr's model the Civil Service Commission would become responsible for overseeing these programmes.

ippr’s report on civil service reform, Rethinking Whitehall by Guy Lodge, will be published in July. ippr researchers conducted over 65 stakeholder interviews.

Contacts

Richard Darlington, ippr media manager, 020 7470 6177 / 07738 320 645 / r.darlington@ippr.org

Matt Jackson, ippr senior media officer, 020 7339 0007 / 07753 719 289 / m.jackson@ippr.org