Civil Service in the news

Professional skills drive across the Civil Service

Government Skills is now recruiting people for two new support teams to develop and deliver professional standards across the Civil Service.

Government Skills is now recruiting people for two new support teams to develop and deliver professional standards across the Civil Service.

More than three quarters of Civil Servants work in the policy or operational delivery professions. For the first time both professions are to have the resources needed, in the form of two support teams, to set skills standards and share best practice and so drive forward professional standards.

Explaining the work the Policy support team will be doing, Sir Brian Bender, Head of the Policy Profession, says ‘Policy making is a profession, and we need to ensure that Civil Servants working in the policy field have the necessary skills to help make and deliver policy effectively. The Policy support team will support me as head of profession, and work with departmental heads of the policy profession, to help shape the standards and drive up skills – thus helping to make a real difference.’

The support teams have been created to implement the Skills Strategy, the three-year central government skills plan.

The goal of the Skills Strategy, explains Andrew MacDonald, the Chief Executive of Government Skills, ‘is to enable the Civil Service to deliver higher quality public services and support our colleagues so that they can develop the kinds of careers they want in the Civil Service and be best equipped to cope in the increasingly mobile labour market.’

‘If we're going to remain competitive in the labour market then we need to be able to demonstrate that we are working to clear, accredited standards and, where appropriate, qualifications relevant to those standards.’

The two teams will set this in motion in close cooperation with the central team in Government Skills and under the direction of Sir Brian Bender for policy and Lesley Strathie, the Head of the Operational Delivery Profession, for operational delivery.

Each team will work with their profession to identify the principal occupational groups, and then develop professional standards and qualifications at all levels before engaging with departments about embedding those standards in the way they manage and promote staff. It is all about driving up professional standards in government.

Commenting on the Operational Delivery support team vacancies, Lesley Strathie says:

‘No matter where you sit in an organisation, there will always be someone raising the bar for operational delivery, but imagine how exciting it would be getting involved in that yourself. We are looking for ambitious, experienced people, who are passionate about shaping operational delivery as a profession. It's a challenging area, and it's going to be stretching but working together with colleagues across our profession and the skills industry, we have an opportunity to give our people the qualifications, recognition and opportunites they need and deserve.’

• Government Skills and support team jobs [External website]