I am pleased to announce the establishment of the Shadow Civil Service Board. For those of you who aren’t aware of the Civil Service Board (CSB), it is responsible for the strategic leadership of the Civil Service. It was established in 2007 and is chaired by me as Head of the Civil Service.
As I mentioned in my first Civil Service Leaders’ blog, the CSB meets monthly to:
- review the Civil Service’s progress in delivering the government’s objectives
- provide oversight of the Civil Service reform programme and identify areas for future reform
- provide the collective leadership of the Civil Service with a regular opportunity to review the lessons from successes and failures in Civil Service performance
- ensure that our best ideas and innovations are shared across departments
Membership of the Board is made up of:
- Sir Jeremy Heywood (Chair), Head of the Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary
- John Manzoni, Chief Executive of the Civil Service
- Sir Nicholas Macpherson, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury
- Sir Simon Fraser, Permanent Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)
- Dame Ursula Brennan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
- Robert Devereux, Permanent Secretary, Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)
- Lin Homer, Permanent Secretary, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
- Sir Peter Housden, Permanent Secretary, Scottish Government (SG)
- Mark Lowcock, Permanent Secretary, Department for International Development (DFID)
- Mark Sedwill, Permanent Secretary, Home Office (HO)
- Jon Thompson, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence (MoD)
- Una O’Brien, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health (DH)
Purpose of the Shadow Board
The Shadow Board met for the first time this week to determine how they will operate and share their views with the CSB. It is made up of a range of staff below SCS grade.
The purpose of the Shadow Board is to:
- provide views on the papers going to CSB in advance of each board meeting
- undertake specific corporate projects for CSB
- have a strong communication role to support the work of CSB at a service-wide level and within their own departments
Membership of the Shadow Board is made up of:
- Alyson King - FCO
- Kate King - MoD
- Ben Archibald - HO
- Mita Samani - DFID
- Rebecca Whyte - SG
- Catriona Laing - MoJ
- Clare Sheehan - HMRC
- Cathy Payne - DWP
- Raghuv Bhasin - DH
- Elkie Symes - CO
I look forward to working with the Shadow Board over the coming months. They have already provided me with some helpful thoughts on the Leadership Statement and how we can embed this within departments at all grades. The skills, dedication and enthusiasm that our staff bring to the important work we do is the foundation the Civil Service is built upon, and the Shadow Board will give those outside the Senior Civil Service the opportunity to play an active role in shaping our future and help to keep the Civil Service Board real!
Follow Sir Jeremy on Twitter: @HeadUKCivServ
3 comments
Comment by Katherine posted on
Fantastic to see the idea of a shadow board finally come to fruition - really important to ensure that the shadows keep fresh and do come from across the CS with all the different perspectives that need to be heard and thought through. I saw this model first hand work really well in the DCSF (as was) and it was excellent for us Board members as well as the communication that then went back to staff.
I look forward to their blogs about their role
Comment by Alistair posted on
I would question how the Shadow Board can meet the objective of giving "those outside the Senior Civil Service the opportunity to play an active role in shaping our future and help to keep the Civil Service Board real" when all the members appear to be Senior Civil Servants and London based
Comment by Tom posted on
Alistair - the blog says they are all below SCS level.
How are the members chosen? I'm sure lots of people would be interested in joining in Shadow Board when members leave.