1 Introduction
1. In recent years there has been a growing trend
to recruit people from outside Whitehall to the senior civil service
(SCS) from the private sector, as well as from local government
and the wider public sector. The issues raised by making external
appointments of this kind have cropped up in many of our past
inquiries, including Skills for Government, Politics
and Administration and Making Government Work.[1]
This report is the result of a short inquiry we undertook to look
specifically at this topic.
2. Our particular focus in this inquiry is on external
appointments at senior levels of the civil service. This
is because the SCS has seen a large proportion of external appointments,
and because civil servants at this level have important leadership
responsibilities. The rationale for making such appointments was
expressed succinctly by Sir David Normington, Permanent Secretary
at the Home Office and author of a recent review of the SCS workforce:
"Basically, we are always trying to get the best leadership
team we can. We have to draw that from wherever we can".[2]
Yet concerns have emerged about the value for money of such appointments,
and potentially adverse effects on the composition and nature
of the senior civil service.
3. During the inquiry, we took evidence from two
serving permanent secretaries, Sir David Normington and David
Bell, who have been extensively involved in discussions about
external appointments; Gill Rider, Director General at the Cabinet
Office responsible for civil service capability and Head of Profession
for Civil Service Human Resources; Janet Paraskeva, the First
Civil Service Commissioner, and Richard Jarvis, Secretary to the
Civil Service Commissioners; and representatives from the civil
service unions FDA, Prospect and the Public and Commercial Services
Union (PCS). We also received written evidence from a range of
individuals and organisations, and examined the effects of external
senior civil service appointments in Wales during a visit to the
Welsh Assembly Government.
4. While this report treats the issue of external
appointments to the SCS as a relatively discrete topic, it does
sit within a wider context of human resource issues in the civil
service. Levels of external recruitment should logically be considered
as part of the overall planning for the shape of the civil service
workforce—one that is able to meet the current and future
needs of government. In this regard, Sir David Normington's recent
review of the composition and pay of the senior civil service
has been highly significant in identifying and advancing the issues
under debate.[3] We also
understand that the Cabinet Office has been developing a workforce
plan for the civil service, although little has emerged from this
work to date.[4]
5. Our inquiry into external SCS recruitment has
coincided with two other inquiries on related topics. We recently
reported on top pay in the public sector; the pay of external
SCS recruits has been a highly contentious issue.[5]
We have also been considering issues relating to ministerial and
other appointments from outside Parliament. That inquiry, like
this one, has been concerned with how government brings in external
expertise.
1 Public Administration Select Committee, Ninth Report
of Session 2006-07, Skills for Government, HC 93-I; Public
Administration Select Committee, Third Report of Session 2006-07,
Politics and Administration: Ministers and Civil Servants,
HC 122-I; Public Administration Select Committee, Seventh Report
of Session 2000-01, Making Government Work: The Emerging Issues,
HC 94 Back
2
Q 59 Back
3
Sir David Normington, Senior Civil Service Workforce and Reward
Strategy: Report of the Steering Group to the Cabinet Secretary,
November 2008 (henceforth "Normington report"; available
at http://www.civilservice.gov.uk) Back
4
Ibid, p 9 Back
5
Public Administration Select Committee, Sixth Report of Session
2009-10, Top Pay in the Public Sector, HC 172-I Back
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