Civil service impartiality. Much to say, including that other countries do things differently and more political models can work. But here’s why I think an impartial civil service matters

1) Recruitment on merit. The whole basis of the CS back to the 19th century

https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1649862612140605441

Get the best people to do the job. By definition “political recruitment” means “people I want who agree with me”, not the most skilled and able. The CS doesn’t always recruit well, but that’s a reason to improve recruitment not to abandon the model

Haven't been online much in the last month or so... in catching up (and in advance of whatever happens with Dominic Raab later) thought I'd highlight some of the interesting things @instituteforgov colleagues have been up to in civil service land The People Survey results were published a few weeks ago - @RhysClyne and @jackworlidge dissected the generally unhappy stats

https://twitter.com/jackworlidge/status/1641817030297804801

New @instituteforgov comment piece from me on Sunak's cabinet committees instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/what-rish…

Always a danger in getting sucked in to committee Kremlinology here, but I think they tell us several things about how he wants to govern 1) Johnson's distinction between strategy and operations committees lives on - Sunak seems to want to chair small strategy discussions and delegate implementation. That's v reasonable, but he needs to make sure he doesn't exclude too many big beasts from important decisions

Thank you for the shout out @Dominic2306 On the CS holding up operationally in covid - I think Cummings is referring to this. Not for the first time with DC all is not what it seems. I’m saying the conventional view of slick policy and dodgy ops flipped in the early phase of the crisis. Policy cratered, ops fared better

A new lead non-executive director for the govt was announced yesterday - Michael Jary. He replaces Lord Nash who stepped down 2yrs into a 3yr term. Jary is a strategy consultant, has other non-exec jobs (Duchy Originals!) including at DLUHC since 2019 gov.uk/government/new…. What does the lead non-exec do? And does it matter? Here's an explainer from @timd_IFG on departmental boards and non executive directors (NEDs) instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/gov…

Lots going on in this article by Kate Bingham and @thetimes report. A short(ish) thread

https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1462912670315786246

First, civil servants need more scientific skills. True. Lots of excellent CS scientists including @uksciencechief but more science backgrounds would be good - also people with data, digital etc skills. And govt should better use the people it already has instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/…