High civil servant criticises ‘sniping’ at officers

Nameless briefings in opposition to civil servants have had a “demoralising” impact on the service, the UK’s prime civil servant has mentioned.

Cupboard Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, who’s standing down in September, mentioned “sniping” in opposition to officers had risen lately.

He additionally mentioned a “decade of pay restraint” had made it more durable for the civil service to retain experience.

He added the scale of the cupboard must be lower to enhance decision-making.

Talking at Oxford College’s Blavatnik College of Authorities, Sir Mark mentioned the present variety of ministers had made it a “cumbersome discussion board” for debate.

He mentioned smaller teams beneath cupboard stage, resembling a particular committee for no-deal Brexit preparations, had been the place “massive points are thrashed out”.

Sir Mark acknowledged civil servants had been “not the one victims” of nameless briefings, which had additionally typically been directed at politicians.

However he added they’d turn into “damaging to the method of governance”.

“There’s nothing extra destabilising for a senior cupboard minister to learn an entire load of stuff in one of many newspapers about whether or not or not the skids are below them due to one thing that is occurred,” he mentioned.

Sir Mark, who took up his put up after Sir Jeremy Heywood’s demise in November 2018, can be standing down as UK nationwide safety adviser.

His exit, introduced in June, adopted stories of tensions between him and senior members of Boris Johnson’s group.

Current departures

However he mentioned nameless briefings mustn’t essentially be linked with plenty of introduced departures from the civil service in latest months.

“I do not suppose it is best to learn into the truth that a number of of us are leaving throughout the first 12 months of a brand new parliament, I do not suppose it is best to learn an excessive amount of of a connection between the 2,” he mentioned.

Sir Philip Rutnam, ex-top civil servant on the Residence Workplace, stop in February and is suing the Residence Workplace for unfair dismissal.

Sir Simon McDonald will depart the Overseas Workplace in September when it merges with the Division for Worldwide Improvement.

In his speech, Sir Mark known as for a “basic overview” of civil servants’ pay, development, and pensions.

He mentioned he agreed that “churn” in the very best officers between completely different roles had made it more durable for departments to hold on to experience.

However he mentioned a “decade of pay restraint” since 2010 had contributed to essentially the most gifted officers transferring on, in flip which means the rest might negotiate greater salaries in “departments below the highlight”.

Nonetheless, he added that the civil service was presently “too metropolitan” and “too brief time period” in its considering, and reform was “rightly” on the federal government’s agenda.

He additionally added there have been too few ethnic minority civil servants, and their views had been “under-represented within the coverage debate”.