Thread by @ifgevents

Our second event of the conference, looking at the civil service in 2023, will begin shortly.

📺❓Watch the session and ask questions here app.sli.do/event/9KY5VbbH…

Or you can follow our live tweeting in this thread🧵🔽
#IfGgovt23

https://twitter.com/instituteforgov/status/1615270787170148353

IfG Programme Director @AlexGAThomas: 2023 will not be a particularly easy year for the civil service, with strikes, inflation, and challenges from without and within.

This points to the need for a new civil service statute to put it on a firmer footing. instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/s…

IfG Senior Researcher @RhysClyne opens with a preview of our 2023 Whitehall Monitor report, looking at the state of the civil service.

Our launch event for the report will take place on 31 January - you can register to attend here: instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/whitehal…

RC: The civil service will face many challenges in 2023, with low morale, dissatisfaction with pay, high turnover and tight budgets.

But it's not all doom and gloom: progress has been made on relocation and digital skills.

Find out more in the full report on 31 Jan.

AR: The PM wants to put accountability, integrity and professionalism at the heart of the govt - this includes the civil service. It involves making civil servants more skilled, ambitious and innovative. And improving delivery, data and digital skills.

AR: Innovation is one thing I would change about the civil service. The civil service has delivered quickly and effectively in the last year, partly seen in the response to the war in Ukraine. How can we learn from that?

#IfGgovt23

SB: It's maybe not the best time to do civil service reform. We know that new governments tend to overhaul and replace previous structures (e.g. through successive delivery units). So this should be thinking time, rather than reforming time.

MM: I used to view the civil service like muesli - very worthy and wholesome, but not very interesting. But that's changed since.

It's important to bring in talent to the civil service. The focus is on broader systems, rather than individual excellence.

MM: There are two broad problems to solve: 1) The low-hanging fruit with technical fixes, like improving training around data and STEM, or reducing churn. It's unclear why these aren't implemented.

2) A broader political problem of the way we think about government (cont.)

MM: (cont.) which includes a focus on short-term fixes. We also need a greater diversity of opinions.

Civil service reform needs a clear set of priorities and questions. You can't deliver two contradictory policies - it's a broader intellectual problem.

AR: A lot of progress has been made on civil service reform, and these need to be rooted in the civil service's values.

Though there's still work to be done on working conditions - in the MoJ's staff survey last year, people were interested in pay, but also progression.

AR: Churn is an issue for the civil service - people should stay for longer in crucial roles. But internal movement isn't always bad, if staff get a range of experience in policy and delivery roles.

#IfGgovt23

AR: The bulk of the civil service is delivering services directly to citizens. We need to get out more across the country in policymaking and should appreciate the differences outside of Whitehall when we look at civil service reform.

MM: The dysfunctions that have emerged are more about a lack of clear purpose or clarity about priorities. A civil service statute might deliver that. But we also often don't prepare people for the big challenges that government has to face.

MM: In my experience, special advisers have a freedom to challenge and criticise policy proposals in a way that civil servants don't.

The special adviser network can work well, when staffed with experts.

AR: Creating high-performing departments is part of the job in the civil service, to deliver for the govt of the day. Performance and talent management are absolutely essential in that. How can we reward people for staying in-post?

Q: Is innovation a problem for the civil service, or for the broader political culture we have? Do we have to be more tolerant of failure to achieve this?

MM: There's two paradoxes in the civil service: 1) there's an immense pressure for accountability but it's difficult to fire people; and 2) there's been a growth in HR while staff morale is declining.

You need a genuine, mission-driven approach to managing staff.

AR: The civil service is massively purpose-led. We work with taxpayers' money so you need to be careful about taking 'moonshots'.

But there's a lot we can do to be more innovative - like learning from existing work across silos, joining up international and domestic policy.

SB: It's reasonable to expect the civil service not to be a market leader on pay - but unsurprisingly people aren't going to be very motivated. This might help with retaining and attracting talent.

Q: Is dysfunction in govt caused by the head of the civil service's lack of authority to run the system?

AR: Permanent secretaries work closely with the Cabinet Secretary. We're clear on what our accountability is.

SB: It's unclear about who the 'CEO' of Whitehall would be.

Q: Would Whitehall civil servants benefit from spending more time in delivery organisations like councils or the NHS?

AR: Civil servants learn from the front line all the time - including in prisons and courts. You can't make policy in a vacuum.

MM: Definitely - and we should also make it easier for people outside the civil service to come in. Why haven't some of these things happened?

That's the end of our second session - our next event is a keynote speech by @PennyMordaunt at 12:00.