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Mr. Freeman: That is a gloomy and negative assessment. It is perfectly right and proper that, in the first place, the civil servant should have the responsibility of reporting his or her concern through the chain of command to the permanent secretary of the Department, but then there is an automatic and unamendable right of appeal to the civil service commissioners. That right can be exercised as quickly as the individual complaining deems appropriate. It is entirely appropriate that the permanent secretary of the Department should be aware of the concerns--concerns that are in some cases, perhaps, justifiably held by the individual--and should know of them first.
It is essential that the arrangements should be credible, and it is clear from our consultation last year that we have a provision that commands widespread confidence. As a succinct and widely available statement of the standards asked of civil servants, the code enables the public to know what they should expect of the civil service.
The creation of the senior civil service is another reform that has commanded widespread support. As the name implies, the senior civil service covers the senior staff--that is, former grades 1 to 5.
The White Papers, "Continuity and Change" and "Taking Forward Continuity and Change", set out the Government's broad objectives for the senior civil service, which came into being on 1 April.
The new senior civil servants have an important role to play in providing leadership, fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose and sustaining key civil service values at a time when most responsibilities are devolved to individual Departments and agencies.
Senior civil service staff will be managed by Departments within a broad common framework. That framework has a number of important new features. First, there are more flexible performance-related pay structures than existed before. That gives Departments more scope to pay people according to their individual circumstances, including the difficulty of their jobs, and to reward according to their individual contribution.
Secondly, we have cut out unnecessary jobs and hierarchies and abolished the old inflexible senior grading structure, which restricted Departments unnecessarily in settling the way in which they organised themselves. The resulting streamlining will lead to an overall reduction of well over 20 per cent. in the number of senior posts.
Thirdly, senior civil servants, like other senior managers, are moving on to personal, formal written contracts. Those set out more clearly than before, in writing, the terms and conditions of employment for senior civil servants, ensuring that people understand properly their rights and obligations.
Fourthly, we have developed a new senior appraisal system. It ensures that our senior performance management systems match best practice elsewhere in the public and private sectors.
Fifthly, we have increased the use of open competition for filling senior vacancies, both across Departments and more widely. So, in recent years, around 30 per cent. of vacancies at the top three levels of the civil service have been openly advertised outside the service, including, in the past year, six posts at permanent secretary level.
Mr. Robert Sheldon (Ashton-under-Lyne):
Two factors concern me. The first is the performance-related pay of senior civil servants, who after all are closely allied to the thinking of the Government of the day. The performance-related pay might be related not just to their ability but to how far they satisfy certain political considerations, which is a serious matter. Secondly, on the fixed-term contracts, if we proceed along those lines, senior civil servants will be under even greater pressure. Those are matters that concern the House and anyone else who is concerned with good administration, and I wonder whether the right hon. Gentleman would care to reflect on them.
Mr. Freeman:
It is important that performance pay--it is modest in relation to basic salary, and certainly in relation to what is paid in the private sector--is determined on merit and performance, not on political loyalty. Civil servants should have loyalty to their Ministers, but should not portray their political affiliations, nor should performance pay be in any way related to political favours that may or may not be deemed to have been performed. That is an extremely important principle. Performance pay is essentially determined by civil servants themselves--ultimately by the permanent secretary--and not by the Minister. It would not be appropriate if it were seen as a Minister giving rewards for political favours. That would be widely unpopular in the civil service and it would be wrong.
Mr. Bernard Jenkin (Colchester, North):
I apologise to my right hon. Friend for arriving a little late for his speech. On performance-related pay, how many senior civil servants leave the service early for the private sector? If we are losing a steady number, is that not an argument for more PRP--for making it more flexible and a bigger element of basic pay, so that we can appropriately reward civil servants who make the sacrifice of staying in public life and avoid losing the best talent to the private sector?
Mr. Freeman:
My hon. Friend will agree that there has been a remarkable change in the level of civil service pay so that it is much more commensurate with private sector pay. There is no great desire, as there was a decade ago, to leave the service because of pay. Of course, there are civil servants whom we would like to retain who leave for substantially better-paid work, but I would not describe that as a main feature of the movement of civil servants out of the public sector.
We have lost, or will lose, up to 20 per cent. of the senior civil service in most Departments through restructuring and opening up and making more flexible the previously monolithic structure of some Departments. Some civil servants have taken well-earned early retirement, where some may pursue other jobs. Some have gone to the private sector. I do not have detailed figures. The introduction of PRP is appropriate in modern life, whether in the public or private sector, to reward not political loyalty but effort, achievement, leadership and efficiency.
Mr. Jenkin:
Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Mr. Freeman:
If my hon. Friend will allow it, I should like to make some progress. I have a fair amount to say, but I shall try to compress it in the interests of the debate.
We have committed ourselves to a renewed emphasis on developing talent. We want to equip our senior people and their potential successors so that they contribute effectively to their jobs and develop satisfying and well-planned careers to meet the Government's and the individual's aspirations. We have already announced our plans to publish a White Paper on that during the summer.
The senior civil service is now well suited to play a vital role both in maintaining traditional civil service values and in driving through necessary change. It will continue to provide clear-sighted and impartial policy advice to Government. It will continue to manage the delivery of a wide range of services to the private sector and the general public. However, it will do so in a way that leads to still greater efficiency and in accordance with the principles of the citizens charter, which will continue to raise standards of service to the customer across the whole of public service. We are confident that the senior civil service, like the wider civil service, will continue to be recognised as being among the world's best as we enter the next millennium. I was going to give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester, North (Mr. Jenkin), but I see that he is talking to a higher authority.
I shall now deal with the enhanced role of the civil service commissioners, brought into effect by the continuity and change White Papers. The commissioners' primary role is to maintain the key principles of fair and open competition and of selection on merit in relation to recruitment to the civil service. The Government have made clear their commitment to those key principles, but we have gone further than lip service: we have strengthened the commissioners' independence and powers in relation to the regulatory framework for civil service recruitment, to ensure that the key principles are upheld in practice.
The main enhancements to the role of the commissioners were summarised in the White Paper "Taking Forward Continuity and Change". The civil service commissioners became responsible for the interpretation of the principle of fair and open competition on merit for all civil service recruitment, not only for the most senior recruitment. They have issued a simple but binding recruitment code for Departments and agencies, to replace the former Minister's rules. They audit Departments' and agencies' recruitment systems against the requirements of the recruitment code. They publish an annual report. Their report for 1995-96, the first to cover their enhanced responsibilities, will be published shortly.
The commissioners continue to approve each appointment from outside the civil service to the new senior civil service and to take a direct part in senior competitions.
Dr. Robert Spink (Castle Point):
Will the Government consider further extending the role of the civil service commissioners beyond examining recruitment across the range of civil service employees?
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