The Behavioural Insights Team outside Number 10 Downing Street

Some of you will have read today’s article in the Independent claiming there will be a “Civil Service sell-off”. The first point to make is that there are no plans to transfer 75,000 civil servants into new organisations and we have no firm targets for services and employees spinning out of the public sector.

Also buried within the article is the positive story that the Behavioural Insights Team, based in the Cabinet Office, is taking its first step to becoming a profit-making joint venture. This is very much something that has the backing of the team and it is great news for them. They have done tremendous work using “Nudge” techniques to support people to make better choices for themselves, identifying tens of millions of pounds of savings in the process.

The team are considering a joint venture model with a strong element of employee participation in partnership with Government and the private sector. This will give them even more opportunity to increase innovation and win new contracts, as well as respond to the demand they have for their services both in the UK and overseas. And the taxpayer benefits, by receiving profits through the Government-owned share. This has been driven by the team and they will continue to own and run the organisation.

It is not just the Civil Service which can benefit from new models such as mutuals and joint ventures. The wider public sector – and the health sector in particular – have done some great work in this area. For example, SEQOL in Swindon is a mutual delivering integrated health and social care. Since being mutualised in 2011 they have seen a rise in productivity and reduction in unit costs across most of their services.

How we use delivery models is a key part of Civil Service Reform and we are assessing different approaches to delivery to improve the services we provide to our staff and the public. I am committed to delivering in new and more innovative ways, but we are looking carefully at where these changes can have the greatest impact and benefits before we develop them further. We don’t have specific targets for how many people or teams should spin out, the process is led by staff and the number of teams going down this route is dependent on staff.

Over the coming months we’ll learn lessons from the Behavioural Insights Team and other parts of the public sector that are looking to deliver in innovative ways. In the meantime, I would welcome your thoughts and experiences of mutuals and other delivery models.

HMRC’s voluntary sector taxes resolution service in Portsmouth give a telephone and email service to Taxaid and Taxhelp whose clients are elderly or vulnerable Credit-UNP

Since starting as Head of the Civil Service last January, I have been to 21 operational sites around the country; from prisons to HMRC call centres, from job centres to airports. I’m always struck by the dedication and tenacity of the people I meet. All of them are delivering essential public services, often in challenging conditions. What they also have in common is that they all belong to the operational delivery profession– although many of them may not be aware of it yet!

There are 24 professions in government. Many of them such as HR, communications, and Finance, are well-established and familiar. However, the vast majority of civil servants – all those providing day-to-day services to the public in fact – are in the operational delivery profession.

Operational delivery is the youngest profession in government and it is starting to gain momentum. The profession came from a belief – which I share – that it is the people in customer-facing jobs that have the most influence on the way the public judge the Civil Service – for good or bad.

So if you help customers on the telephone, process their applications or work in a face-to-face environment, you are likely to be a member.

I spent last Tuesday afternoon with a group of around 70 senior civil servants from across government, who had gathered together for the first time as members of this profession. Between them they have a hand in running the most important services being delivered to the public.

There is so much good work happening across departments, but the challenge is to share this and learn from each other. The talk in the room was about how we manage talent better, how we give opportunities to the best and brightest people and how we can help each other deliver a quality service to the public with fewer resources.

Professional development was high on the agenda. Civil Service Reform sets the expectation that people take control of their own learning – with everyone given a minimum of five days to develop themselves.

Members of the operational delivery profession can find more information about what’s on offer to them on Civil Service Learning. As well as helping people to build knowledge and skills specific to their own job, the profession’s learning programmes are designed to build skills that are recognised and valued across the Civil Service. We want it to be easier for people to move between departments – sharing their skills and experiences, and gaining new ones.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the development of the operational delivery profession in the comments below.

Una O’Brien, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health, launches the Civil Service Capabilities Plan

It goes without saying that we live in a changing world and that the Civil Service cannot afford to stand still when faced with rising public expectations and spending reductions. So we have to change to meet these big challenges that all economies are facing. Which is why today’s launch of the Capabilities Plan is so important. The Plan, which is a crucial element of Civil Service Reform, is part of our new approach to improving skills and performance across all departments.

The Capabilities Plan is an overarching strategy which works hand-in-hand with the new Competency Framework and new Performance Management Framework. I am personally driving this new approach and Permanent Secretaries themselves will be judged on how well they increase the capability of their organisations. Senior Civil Servants and other managers will be evaluated not just on what they and their teams do but on how they develop and bring on individuals within their teams.

The Plan identifies four priority areas: digital, commercial, programme and project management, and leadership and management of change. For example, you may work in a Job Centre Plus and need to consider how using social media responsibly can help promote your services to clients – I certainly have found Twitter to be a great tool. Or you may be introducing a new IT system and need do some work to ensure the impact on your team is carefully planned. I don’t expect everyone to become have detailed knowledge in digital or leading change overnight – this is a five-year plan. However over time everyone will be expected to demonstrate progress in these areas.

So the first thing that everyone should do is complete the ‘Competency Framework self-assessment tool on the Civil Service Learning website. The tool brings together all your learning and development needs in one place to help you understand where you need to develop and provide you with advice on what learning can help you enhance your skills.

As I said in my last blog, a key part of our new approach is that everyone should be taking their five days a year for learning and development. Once you have discussed your learning needs with your line manager you can then decide how you spend your five days. They may be made up of face-to-face training, e-learning or workplace learning such as job shadowing.

By embracing this more rigorous approach to improving skills and performance we can ensure that we all have the best possible opportunities to be part of a Civil Service that serves the public better, faces the future with confidence and delivers the best for Britain.

Find out more on improving your skills visit the Civil Service Reform webpages

“The move towards other types of learning such as e-learning courses will be a profound change for most.”

Effective learning and development is critical to the success of the Civil Service Reform Plan. We need a stronger, more unified Civil Service equipped to deal with the challenges of the modern world. One year ago we launched Civil Service Learning (CSL) to provide the tools to deliver this.

CSL has made great progress in its first year. 335,000 people, more than three quarters of all civil servants, have registered for the service and this number is rising daily. Evaluation results after the first year are excellent – nearly 100,000 civil servants have had their say about the learning they have done – 96% say their courses met its objectives and 85% say they have already put the learning into action in their work.

This positive feedback is particularly pleasing given that CSL has brought in significant changes in a short space of time. There has been a fundamental shift from a classroom based approach to one which is far more blended, making greater use of technology and learning in the workplace. We have all become accustomed to a certain way of undertaking training and so the move towards other types of learning such as e-learning courses will be a profound change for most. Nevertheless, feedback from those who undertake e-learning has been strong – 97% saying the courses achieve their objectives.

Last year’s Civil Service-wide People Survey also showed encouraging responses to learning and development with a 4% increase in civil servants saying they can access the learning and development they need. However we must do better.

The People Survey did also show that some people do feel they cannot access the all the training opportunities they need. I believe there are several reasons behind this.

First, as mentioned previously there has been a shift in how we undertake learning and I’m confident that as more civil servants sign up and take advantage of CSL’s services, the feedback will improve.

Secondly, work pressures may prevent people from feeling they can take time to undertake learning. If you feel this way, you need to talk this through with your line manager. The Civil Service Reform Plan commits to providing civil servants with 5 days training each per year and your line manager has a responsibility to ensure you can develop your skills to do the best job you possibly can.

Finally, I believe there could be a mistaken perception that training budgets are not available. Whilst it may be the case that budgets are lower, CSL has brought down the cost of learning significantly – with most face to face courses being delivered 70% cheaper than before. E-learning and the wide range of other learning resources available on the CSL website are all free for end users. I therefore do not believe that training budgets should not generally be an issue, although like all budgets it will need to be actively managed.

So congratulations to Jerry Arnott and his team on achieving so much in their first year. Of course, as with all areas of the Civil Service, it needs to continuously improve. A key priority must be to drive up the number of subscribers and I encourage all of you who haven’t yet done so to sign up. If you have signed up – why not log in and check out the learning opportunities available to you? The recent roll out of the competency framework  and forthcoming publication of the capabilities plan are huge steps in identifying the skills needed for the modern civil servant and CSL has a pivotal role in putting these plans into action.

I thought it would be helpful for staff if I laid out the implications of yesterday’s Budget for the Civil Service. Each department will be communicating in more detail soon, so I would recommend checking your intranets in the coming days. There have been important announcements about Pay and the Personal Allowance and support for childcare which I have set out below.

Pay

• The public sector pay cap will be extended into 2015-16 meaning that pay increases will be limited to a maximum of 1%.
• It will be up to departments and Pay Review Bodies to decide whether an increase below 1% is justified based on affordability and staffing needs.
• In June’s Spending Round the Government will seek to make significant further savings through reforms to progression pay.
• Progression pay has meant some people in the public sector have received pay increases of more than 7% in a given year during the pay freeze. The intention is that pay increases for those receiving progression pay will be brought closer to those of the wider workforce.

Spending reductions

• To help meet spending reductions the Chancellor has announced a 1% reduction in most Departmental resource budgets in 2013/14 and in 2014/15. This will save approximately £2.3bn in total.
• Departmental budgets will reduce by £11.5bn in 2015/16 in addition to an extension of the efficiency programme which is expected to save £5bn in efficiency and administration costs in 2015/16.

Personal Allowance

• The tax-free personal allowance will increase by £560 to £10,000 in 2014-15. By April 2014, the personal allowance will have risen by £3,525 since 2010 – an increase of 54% in four years in cash terms.

Support for Childcare

• The Government has announced support for childcare for working families. Families will receive 20% of their childcare costs, up to £1,200 per year per child from autumn 2015.
• Many civil servants are currently covered by the Employer Support Childcare system. This will be closed to new entrants in 2015, but staff who are members up to that point can choose to remain in the scheme. For many people the new scheme will be more generous.

The decisions on spending and pay reflect the tough economic circumstances facing the country. From my visits around the country I am confident that we have the ability to respond to these challenges.

Follow me on Twitter: @sirbobkerslake

MOD Civil Secretariat team supporting troops at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. Picture: Sergeant Alison Baskerville, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011

 
The Civil Service Reform Plan isn’t a report sitting on a desk somewhere in Whitehall. It’s a series of practical, meaningful changes that are transforming the Civil Service for the better – right here, right now. So I was particularly pleased to see two more measures announced last week which will affect most civil servants directly. These measures will also contribute to changing the bigger picture, by making our organisation faster, more joined-up and more focused on achieving results.

On Thursday we announced the publication of a new competency framework, the first that applies to all civil servants across government. Whether you inspect livestock for Defra in the Pennines, support our service personnel on the ground in Afghanistan, or help people into work in Bristol, ultimately we are all part of one, unified, Civil Service, working toward the shared goal of delivering exceptional public services. The arrival of a unified framework is therefore good news for everybody.  Civil servants will find it easier to apply for jobs in different departments, while managers and HR professionals will have a simple, single standard for recruitment, performance management, and career development. The new framework will help ensure we can deliver government priorities in an agile and responsive way and will enable us to develop key capabilities like digital, commercial and project management skills.

I’m grateful to the departments which have already launched the framework, as thanks to their early efforts and feedback we are in a position to roll it out smoothly across the remainder of government from April this year.

The second Civil Service Reform announcement was about the creation of the first Independent Shared Service Centre, which will initially serve the Department for Transport, but will eventually provide HR, payroll, finance and transactional services to multiple departments and arms-length bodies.

For civil servants, greater standardisation across back office functions will bring the benefits of shared expertise, reduced errors and simplified procedures. But by generating efficiency savings through sharing services in this way, the Civil Service Reform Plan can also make a direct contribution to the Government’s efforts to reduce the deficit, without undermining our ability to deliver the first class services that the public rightly expect from us.

Paul Marriner’s team has worked really hard to produce a comprehensive Strategic Plan for Next Generation Shared Services and has now delivered the first element on schedule. There is more work to follow, and it will take time for these changes to bed down, but after all the preparation it is satisfying to see Civil Service Reform building momentum before us.

Sir Bob Kerslake and Sir Peter Housden taking questions from staff

One of the real joys and privileges of my job is that I get to see civil servants in action the length and breadth of the country. I get through a great deal of paperwork every day but none of it gives me the depth of insight I can get from a visit – so getting out and about, whether to Southampton or Sheffield, is an opportunity I always relish. And each visit reinforces my belief in the excellence and dedication of civil servants.

Last week’s visit to Scotland was no exception. I last visited around this time in 2012, speaking to staff in the Scottish Government and at the Department for International Development in East Kilbride, and I have been keen to go back ever since. Scotland is particularly interesting because of the context of civil servants working for two governments but cooperating effectively on their every-day business; and of course it’s fascinating and informative to take a moment to view the UK through a Scottish lens, and to compare innovations in devolved policy areas with our own ideas in England and the other devolved administrations.

I began the day in Bathgate at an HMRC contact centre which deals with tax credits and child benefits. It was great to have the chance to sit in on a “buzz” meeting, where the team analysed their recent performance and suggested ways to improve their results. I was impressed by the insights the team had on its own performance, and how the discussion really invested each member in improvement. A lively Q&A session followed and I was pleased that there was real engagement with the key elements of Civil Service Reform.

Later in the day I spoke with staff from the Scotland Office and the Scottish Government. With the referendum taking place next year there was plenty of interest in the role of the Scottish Civil Service in the process. As I said when I was there, many civil servants in Scotland have plenty of experience adapting to different circumstances. Those of them nearer my vintage may well have served a majority Conservative Government and a majority Labour Government before devolution, a Labour/Lib Dem coalition under devolution, an SNP minority administration and now an SNP majority. Change seems to have been the constant in Scotland.

I won’t pretend that managing the situation within and between the Governments in a single civil service is going to be easy. Ministers in the Scottish and UK Governments will want and deserve first rate Civil Service support for their Government work and I know that is what all of us will give them. But whilst the debates abound about independence, thousands of civil servants across Scotland continue to deliver key services. Those staff at HMRC working on tax and those at DFID working to reduce global poverty are evidence of this commitment to getting results for the public in Scotland, the UK and beyond.

Sir Bob Kerslake visiting Government scientists at the Food and Environment Research Agency last year

When I look at an issue, from housing to people management to planning, my ‘maths brain’ kicks in. Though it has been a while since I studied maths at university, the analytical way I consider a problem has remained with me. The rigour of scientific subjects is highly valuable in the Civil Service when, more than ever, the public, the press and ministers are demanding that we have sound evidence bases. So last week it was with great pleasure that I went to the annual conference of the Government Scientists and Engineers(GSE).

The science and engineering profession doesn’t always get the credit it deserves. There is an illustrious history of scientists in government. In fact the first Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir Solly Zuckerman, is recognised as a pioneer of bringing science into government policy. And science is central to addressing some of the biggest problems we face; climate change, environmental degradation and energy supply to name a few.

What also struck me about the conference was the sheer scale. There are around 12,000 scientists and engineers across government departments and agencies and it seemed like a decent proportion of them had made the trip to London. Each central department has a Chief Scientist who plays a vital role advising the Permanent Secretary and Ministers. It only takes a cursory look at some of the most significant recent government announcements to see the impact that the profession makes. From the eight great technologies of the future, to the response to ash dieback, science has a fundamental role to play.

I was also interested to read the coverage of the profession’s recent report about how they can develop to deliver Civil Service Reform. There was a focus on one of the negative areas highlighted in their survey – namely that 40% feel their skills are undervalued. I am clear that across all professions we must do more to utilise the skills of this group. Nonetheless, the overwhelming message that I got from the report was of a highly skilled group who are already influential in departments (60% feel ‘very’ or ‘often’ influential) but could have an even greater impact. I was heartened to see that Sir John Beddington, the Chief Scientific Adviser, made exactly these points in his article on Thursday.

I did ask whilst at the conference whether my maths degree made me eligible for the profession. Apparently they are a broad church so I can be an honorary member. I just hope they don’t ask me to recall any theorems!

It’s been a real privilege to travel round the country meeting so many civil servants. Click on the map to read more about my visits.

They say a week is a long time in politics, but I have to say the last year has flown by. I find it hard to believe that a year ago I was starting out in my role as Head of the Civil Service. It was an exciting, but daunting, task I faced. Here I was, leading the Civil Service with only a few years under my belt as a civil servant myself – and I was to keep my job as Permanent Secretary for Communities and Local Government. You’d have been forgiven for questioning my sanity.

But a year on, I can look back and say that it’s been a challenging but hugely rewarding year. Far from being a hindrance, I think my status as a relative newcomer to the Civil Service is a benefit for I’ve been around long enough to recognise the successes, but not so long that I can’t see where we’re capable of improvement. And whilst my dual role might be a diary challenge, it’s certainly helped me to understand how the changes we’re making to the Civil Service are impacting Departments and having real benefits.

It’s been a real privilege to travel round the country meeting so many of you, from Exeter to East Kilbride. I’ve even been to meet FCO colleagues in Sweden. I’ve been struck by the enormous amount of good work that is going on within the Civil Service and the passion with which it’s done. I recall meeting one lady and asking her what the best part of her job was. She replied “every day” (and her line manager wasn’t in ear shot!). Other conversations are more robust. I know there are concerns about pensions, performance management and changes to working practices and I am pleased to have been able to engage with so many of you on these over the last year.

Last week someone asked what I was proudest of in my first year in the job. I have to say it’s the Civil Service Reform plan. This is a good plan that the Civil Service can and should get behind. Anyone who has been a regular follower of this blog over the last few months won’t have escaped my passion and determination to deliver an exceptional Civil Service. I believe we’ve made some really positive changes over the last year. Civil Servants are now all entitled to five days of training each year, we’re delivering more public services digitally and we’re streamlining our corporate functions – from lawyers to websites – to boost efficiency and services.

This coming year will see us embed our new performance management arrangements, publish a cross-civil service capabilities plan and start to consider the next stages of reform.

From my visits around the country I am confident that the plan does address the issues that Civil Servants themselves face. It would be great to hear examples about how you are delivering the plan in the comments section below.

The Civil Service is being written about extensively in UK Newspapers

 
Many of you will have seen that the Civil Service has been extensively covered in the press during the past two weeks. The Times, the Independent and the Telegraph have all dedicated column inches to discussing how we operate as an organisation and commentators from all sides of the debate have given their thoughts on what we do well and what we should do better. I know that this has an impact on how civil servants are perceived and how you view yourselves.

Much of the coverage fell back on some well-rehearsed clichés about the Civil Service which do not reflect the scale of what we do nor the amount of change we have already achieved. The staff that I have met working in the Preston Benefit Office or the Met Office in Exeter, for example, are strongly focused on providing a good service to the public. However there were some criticisms which ring more true. The need to improve our commercial skills and our leadership of change is clear. The West Coast Mainline failures showed that we must have the right project management skills to handle increasingly complex transactions. And we must also go further to become less hierarchical and improve our performance management. So whilst being robust in challenging inaccurate or outdated views of the Civil Service, we must not fall into trap of suggesting that everything is all right.

I am very confident that our Civil Service Reform Plan, building upon our strengths and addressing our weaknesses, will make a real and positive difference. Already we have made tangible progress. Shared Services are becoming a reality, departments have published their digital strategies, Permanent Secretaries have published their objectives online and we have announced a new apprenticeship scheme. In departments, major organisational changes have been made whilst at the same time delivering on the government’s priorities.

My view is that whilst these changes are ongoing each civil servant has to be an ambassador for the positive work that the Civil Service does. If all 420,000 of us make our voices heard this will, over time, change public attitudes. If you haven’t already read it I would recommend to you the interview between Frances Maude, Jeremy Heywood and me in the Times (paywall) on January 16th. The only difference between us they could find was whether we preferred Yes Minister or the Thick Of It!