Thread by @ifgevents

Lord Maude has been asked to review the Cabinet Office - @bronwenmaddox will be discussing with him how it has performed, especially during the pandemic.

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Lots of hope is being placed on Lord Maude's review. Maude says the TOR are very specific, looking at the spend controls, and the operation of the functions, HQ'd in the Cabinet Office, and to assess progress on Civil Service Reform since 2012.

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A lot that was managed to be fudged in the centre during the coalition, but it 'can no longer be fudged' if we are concerned with the effectiveness of government.

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For example, the view in HMT about what the centre should be - 3 departments wrote to PAC brushing off their concerns about the role of the centre.

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There was an issue with departmental silos - finance functions and expertise, along with many others, where split between different departments - Maude's reforms in 2010 were trying to change this.

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Asked about accountability in gov - centre vs departments. We need to think of the centre of gov in a different way. It should be the HQ of gov. Departments need to be held to account - not just in arrears by PAC.

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It tended to be the perm sec and senior civil service who felt threatened by the centre. But not the best senior civil servants - they saw the opportunities.

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To make the functional agenda work you need:

1. a good leader (eg a Chief Digital Officer)
2. a hardcore of capability in the centre, the best in the class. Don't need to be huge
3. a mandate (this is often too weak, which will damage the leader)

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There is a cultural divide in the civil service that needs to be fixed - between the policy makers and operational delivery. The latter should be closer to ministers than they are.

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Implementation challenges haven't sufficiently surfaced in the policy development process - policy mandarins aren't able to assess them properly.

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Lord Maude says the pandemic would challenge all governments. Preparation could probably have been better, and there have been mistakes.

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There is a defensiveness in the establishment which is an issue during the pandemic, for example with engaging with the business and academic community.

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Why is the gov focusing on civil service reform now as a priority?

Maude says the situation in the civil service is bad - the people are talented but the institution is flawed. But reform should always be happening - there should be continuous improvement.

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What does he say to the unease about politicisation of the civil service?

Maude says he has no interest or concern about the political complexion of the civil service. Ministers need people to be close and people able to speak truth to ministers.

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The publishing of yearly savings from the spending controls has been discontinued - and Maude is disappointed with that. Maude wants to reinstate that.

Efficiency needs more ministerial attention, it has been diluted in departments since he has left.

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Lord Maude says the Treasury are very good at cost/benefit analysis. But less set up to assess what the costs *should* be. Are they realistic, can they be reduced?

Big projects too often go over budget and over time atm. So we need to be better at this, rather than shying away.

Question about pay for technical leaders.

Maude says the gov won't be able to offer pay comparable to private sector to get the top into the civil service - so need a public service 'gene', reward of seeing change happen, and a high status and mandate for technical leaders.

A Department of the PM?

Maude says you don't need to have a large centre. You need a strong head office - that isn't about concentrating power. We are unusual in not having a Dept of PM. But the centre should at least act as a single org, not three.

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Could centralisation stop civil servants getting closer to citizens?

Need to push control out to the frontline within departments. For example public sector mutuals which had huge improvement in productivity, as free from constraints of departments.

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What did the merger of DfID and FCO mean for efficiency?

Maude says the creation of FCDO made a lot of sense for efficiency.

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Maude says the rotation of civil servants is very problematic. People should not be able to go to another part of the civil service on a whim.

It costs continuity and the running of the civil service too much.

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Asked again of speaking truth to power - doesn't the current climate of departures hinder civil servants standing up to ministers?

Maude agrees, but says that it is not about standing up to ministers, but being willing to tell them the truth.

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Maude says that there also needs to be more work put into the capability of ministers too (on a cross party basis) - not just on the capability of the civil servants.

The idea that a backbenchers would be able to suddenly be a perfect minister is not right.

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That's all we have time for, but thank you for watching and following along, and for all the questions submitted!

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