Twelve months ago, in my New Year blog, I set out my priorities for 2015: accelerating transformation; improving leadership; building capabilities, particularly commercial; increasing opportunities for our workforce, especially those from under-represented groups; digital throughout the Civil Service; and, finally, preparing for the General Election. And I am delighted to report that we have made real progress in each of these areas.
Firstly, the General Election showed the Civil Service’s professionalism and impartiality at their finest. Throughout the purdah period, civil servants helped to keep government and the public services running smoothly; we prepared carefully for all potential outcomes and then swiftly responded to the challenge of serving the new government.
In February, following a consultation in which thousands of civil servants took part, we launched the Leadership Statement. By embedding this in the performance objectives of all leaders and using it to shape the training they are given, the statement is already helping to ensure that they demonstrate the behaviours and values needed in a high-performing organisation.
World leaders
Our digital capability has continued to go from strength to strength, and Britain is now undoubtedly one of the world leaders in digital government. We have adopted new ideas and a new agile way of working to try to make everything we do more efficient and better for users. The award-winning GOV.UK has received 2 billion visits and reduced running costs by over half. Departments such as HMRC and DWP are becoming truly digital organisations, transformed from where they were only a few years ago. And at the Spending Review, an additional £1.8 billion investment in digital transformation, as well as £450 million specifically for GDS, was announced.
The Government Commercial Function has also made steady progress in increasing capability across government. New standards for commercial work have been introduced that all departments must adhere to. And we are looking to introduce a new pay and grading model to recruit and retain top commercial specialists. Commercial leaders now act with more confidence and are increasingly leveraging their collective buying power. Central government spends approximately £45 billion annually, and so a saving of just a few per cent will save us millions of pounds every year.
Finally, we have continued to work towards our aim of becoming the most diverse and inclusive organisation in the country. We have introduced name-blind recruitment, shared parental leave and an improved workplace adjustment service for those with a disability; and we have appointed expert external advisers to offer challenge and insight to our work. This year also saw record numbers of nominations for the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Awards. Through these efforts, we are starting to build momentum towards a Civil Service that truly reflects modern Britain.
Continuing the momentum in 2016
I am very proud of our achievements over the past year, but that does not mean we can sit on our hands, content with where we’ve got to. In 2016, improving commercial skills and capability, driving forward digital transformation, and increasing diversity of all types and at all levels will remain my top priorities. Success in these three areas is essential to our becoming the most modern, efficient, inclusive and highly skilled civil service in the world. But, in 2016 I also want us to keep firmly in mind three bigger themes that support and reinforce our top operational priorities.
- Fulfilling our potential
I want to lead a Civil Service where it doesn’t matter if you sit in a London policy team or a Newcastle contact centre, but you feel you are given the support, guidance and time in which to develop your skills and reach your full potential. We are going to become a smaller organisation over the next year, and we need to ensure that every civil servant has the opportunity to make the most of their talents and the tools to do the job. Schemes like the Fast Track Apprenticeship and the Positive Action Pathway are being expanded, and Civil Service Learning is revamping its learning and development offer to provide even better support to civil servants looking to improve themselves.
- Building a unified Civil Service
The Spending Review means that almost all departments will have fewer resources next year, and fostering a more joined-up working culture can help us meet the challenges that this will bring. This not only means working in a more unified way on delivering services and creating policy, but also sharing ideas more, getting better at replicating our best technology across government, and making sure we forge strong links at a regional - and devolved - level. I can think of no better objective for the Cabinet Office itself, in this its centenary year.
During my visits last year to Manchester and Edinburgh, I saw at first hand how public servants in different departments and agencies are pooling resources, locally and regionally, and collaborating more closely to tackle specific issues such as the exploitation of migrant workers; or harnessing advances in areas like data science to create better, user-focused policy and more efficient services. We need to see more of this.
- Becoming a Civil Service that values and celebrates 'difference'
This year, I want to see a renewed effort on creating a culture, right across the Civil Service, that genuinely values diversity and difference, that welcomes new thinking and challenge and makes everyone feel included and able to give their best. I want to be sure that we are recruiting and promoting people in a fair and transparent way; that we do everything we can to eliminate bullying and discrimination; and that we are seeking out and developing talented individuals wherever they work. I also want to do more to improve social mobility. The Civil Service has the opportunity to develop leading-edge practice in this area, and I am looking forward to working with colleagues across government to make this aspiration a reality.
There is no doubt 2016 will be a challenging year. We must continue to work more efficiently, while delivering the Government’s agenda. However, as civil servants have repeatedly proved, the Civil Service is a flexible and dynamic organisation, ready to meet this challenge with confidence, integrity and professionalism. That is why I am so proud to be Head of the Civil Service and am optimistic of our continued success this year.
Follow Sir Jeremy on Twitter: @HeadUKCivServ
39 comments
Comment by another Terry posted on
How does one square the marked differences in Performance Management outcomes between various (Equality Act) protected groups and the objective to create a "Civil Service that values and celebrates 'difference'?
Notwithstanding the CS's achievements in other areas, there cannot be reason to celebrate yet, in my view, if there remains a risk/perception that one is like likely not to get performance pay, or is more likely to have an improvement plan imposed, because of who you are, not because of what you have achieved.
Comment by John Tann posted on
Thank you Mr Heywood for sparing us the five minutes you took to write that reply paragraph. Inspiring stuff.
Comment by William (MoD) posted on
Sir Jeremy,
Thank you for your thoughts on the comments.
As Paul, I too have read the SDSR blog - it said nothing other than there will be no pay rise to save jobs and there will be staff cuts.
No contradictory thoughts at all...
I realise that you are caught between a rock and a hard place - with our Lords and Masters in Westminster (reluctantly) accepting a small but cost neutral pay rise and they instruct you to tie your staff to a 10 year pay freeze.
I applaud your ability to find any kind of possitive spin at all. Not sure that many of us that are taking home less money each month than we did 5 years ago would be able to do that.
Comment by William (MoD) posted on
Sir Jeremy,
Further to my previous comment - As I have no idea who my Senior Civil Service Ambasador is ans assuming you are one, can I ask - How will your thanks and the extra training help me meet with the proposed rise in the cost of living?
My reason for asking is simple - Local Councils are predicting at least a 4% rise in Council Tax, with one suggesting 18%.
Plus the Governor of the Bank of England hinted at a rise in mortgage rate.
Will you ask the Goverment / Treasury how I can afford that when my less than 1% pay rise was less than the forthcoming increase to the NI contributions?
Comment by Disillusioned CS. posted on
'Throughout the purdah period, civil servants helped to keep government and the public services running smoothly; we prepared carefully for all potential outcomes and then swiftly responded to the challenge of serving the new government'.
Yeah, and then we were all swiftly kicked in the teeth again when, shortly after, we learned that we were required to take another 4 years of real-terms wage cuts, adding up to what will be nigh-on 10 years of wage cuts!!!! (No rises for 5 years then 1% for 4 years)
How valued we are by the current government, we have done nothing but work harder, longer and leaner for years and still we get NO recognition. It's pretty shameful for a country like ours, we (well, the government line) are supposed to be the world leading Civil Service and you continue to treat your staff like this with no view in sight of the constant kicking we keep being given ever stopping. Very sad times indeed.
The constant washing over the top with pointless blogs about how you understand how we feel doesn't help either, no-one in the CSS does understand, that's pretty evident, or the way we are being treated would have stopped years ago. Many of your staff are now past the point of caring about their jobs and the morale of 100% of the people I work with is non-existent. The only thing the government is doing well with regards the Civil Service is ensuring that all of the people who work for it know exactly how little the people in power think of them.
Comment by Alan Colquhoun posted on
1) The Austerity imposed on Civil Servants can only be considered against the background of 11% PAY RISES that were awarded to MPs. Considering the Expenses Scandals and the economic misery and mess that this country is in I don't suppose they were measured on their performance. 2) As for Digitisation: can I remind you that it is man at the top of the food chain.... and not machine. Algorithms may replace some mundane thought processes but can never replace human intuition and the ability to think laterally. Best of luck with your bright n shiny brave new world.
Comment by Geoff posted on
"This year, I want to see a renewed effort" - "that welcomes new thinking and challenge and makes everyone feel included and able to give their best."
Really Jeremy?
If that is true, then you really need to be asking the SCS:
-Why they spend so much time blogging and then do absolutely nothing about the responses they get back.
-Why any suggestion for improvement that an individual makes is knocked back by the most senior person who wants to maintain the status quo.
-Why no-one has got the guts to take any action over the despised, immoral and repugnant PAR process.
Comment by Mark P posted on
"We are going to become a smaller organisation over the next year, and we need to ensure that every civil servant has the opportunity to make the most of their talents and the tools to do the job."
Really? How do you square that circle? How can you give everyone opportunity, if you are making them redundant?
Comment by Paul posted on
Sir Jeremy - Thank you for your reply, however I have read your Spending Review blog. In fact, I've scrutinised that several times, including again today. It doesn't 'scratch the surface', as John refers to above. More importantly, there is no mention of replacement of PMR, which all staff, at all grades, wish to happen - the sooner the better. As, once again highlighted by my colleagues above, PMR has been used - and then disposed of - by the Private Sector. They concluded, quite rightly, that it was costly - both in monetary terms and in time - and undermined and devalued their staff. The same goes for pay - your Spending Review blog essentially said 'nothing will change - there is no more money'. We all know this isn't the case - the Public Sector are just an easy austerity target when it comes to issues such as pay, as you & the government know we cannot do anything about this. However, there seems to be a vast amount of money for foreign aid, the EU and various 'projects' - HS2 for example (which will be obsolete before it even starts). I'm sorry to digress, but when are we going to start properly rewarding Public Servants for their hard work, the service they provide and for meeting targets, including cost savings. You say we have done all these things, so where is the thanks? Like others, I have the usual living costs, and 'words' will not pay these. I know your response may be that I should seek work elsewhere, but I'm in my mid-50's, with financial & family commitments, and cannot take that type of risk - not least being the fact that working in the Public Sector has not exactly furnished me with the tools to 'impress' a Private Sector employer. They aren't interested in my benefit knowledge, that I can use Word, Oulook & Excel (big deal....) or that I have a degree studied for more than 20 years ago. So, over to you Sir Jeremy, perhaps more than 58% engagement will be on the cards at the next Staff Survey (that really is a shocking percentage figure. If I were an employer, I would be truly embarrassed.....). The problem is, I really don't think senior Civil Servants, or our Directors, are really that bothered by the Staff Survey outcome. There seems to be a general overarching response that no-one above G7 grade really cares too much, as long as 'they are alright'. How sad.....
Comment by Jeremy Heywood posted on
Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and respond to this blog. Many of your comments raise concerns around pay, terms and conditions, and jobs. I, of course, understand why these remain such important issues for you, and I encourage you to read my recent response to comments on the Spending Review blog, which looks at each of them in turn. I'd also like to reiterate my thanks for all your hard work in 2015 and hope you feel proud of what we achieved.
Comment by John posted on
I'm sorry Sir Jeremy, but your response is not adequate to address the real concerns of staff in relation to pay terms and conditions.
In fact the blog you refer to above barely scratches the surface and appears to brush genuine concerns under the carpet-(please see the comments section).
Comment by Paul posted on
Re. my post above - of course I meant to say 'targeted', but too keen to get my message across. If any senior managers or Directors read the feedback from staff on these blogs (it would be nice to have some acknowledgement of this Sir Jeremy), there is a shorter version of what I have posted - "If you care for your staff, they will be happy - and happy staff make for an efficient, customer focused work force". We shouldn't need to spell this out for our SMT, but this type of thing is a cornerstone of private sector businesses - happy, motivated staff are very good at their jobs and their customers benefit - it really is that simple....
Comment by Denese posted on
The IT systems are utterly garbage, the person who came up with TECH NOW which is the worst system ever as no one knows how to use it, what's wrong with phoning someone and asking for an engineer to come out instead of incidents being batted back and forward for over a week as it was sent to the wrong person, surely if you received an email that was not for you, you would not ignore it !! Then eventually you get an email giving YOU instructions on how to fix the problem, excuse me I'm not an engineer.
As for wage rise - that's a joke, bullying and harrassment, that's true, staff morale at an all time low, pressure with work loads increasing.
Comment by HDD posted on
Sir, do you actually believe your own words? From down here, it’s not quite as rosy as you seem to think. It all sounds very nice but with PMR, it feels like the boot is being stuck in at every possible opportunity. Stu Holttum at the top of this blog summarises it perfectly. Stack ranking is corporate bullying at its worst, with a bit of discrimination and lying thrown in. Hardly ties in with the Civil Service code but I have the impression this becomes more elastic the higher one rises.
As someone diagnosed a few years ago with Asperger Syndrome, I can honestly say that PMR has been an unmitigated disaster, which has had very obvious detrimental effects on my condition. For your information, this is a condition which affects behaviour and is not possible to permanently keep under control, resulting in very high levels of anxiety and stress. After many years of excellent reports, I was given a ‘must improve’ in the first year of PMR, not because of my tax-related work etc., but purely because I couldn’t cope with an excessively noisy (my current office is by far the noisiest room I have ever worked in) and chaotic working environment, and reacted badly on a handful of occasions. The anger which has stemmed from this continues to affect me badly because I tend to obsess over things. You can make all the reasonable adjustments you like, but I’m stuck with this for life; I just get on things with as well as I can.
My actual work is regarded as excellent (of course, under PMR, most of this is totally ignored), but I feel that I have no future at all in the Civil Service. Either the possibility of situations like this arising wasn’t thought of by the Cabinet Office, or it was considered but the attitude was ‘we’ll find a way of getting rid of people like that, they’re misfits’. Even though people tell me otherwise, that is exactly what PMR has made me feel like, a misfit. It has led to a very uneasy relationship at times with my unfortunate manager. How exactly this idiotic system (idiotic enough for private companies, having realised it was completely counter-productive, to start dumping it at around the same time the CS adopted and adapted it) is supposed to get the best out of staff, I’m clearly too stupid to realise. Oh, and at the same time, my monthly net pay is lower than last year because of higher pension contributions. Disillusioned, demoralised, embittered, and sick and tired of being treated like an 8 year old. Don’t expect to be here much longer.
Comment by Paul posted on
I've said this before on other blogs, but it seems our senior leaders are unable to comprehend the following (so, repeating myself......) - IF you care for your employees, you should - provide excellent terms & conditions, proper pay progression and pay rises, a decent working environment (you know, offices that are warm in winter, have decent loos, non-leaky ceilings - that type of thing), managers that listen to their staff (rather than treating us with disdain [I was going to say 'rather than treating us like children', but many parents would not behave toward their children as some of our managers toward staff], which, as a parent, includes me...), properly targetted 'hands on' training, a reporting system that actually works and is not disliked by 99% of staff (and has already been ditched by the private sector), actual training for managers (which is non-existent. What private sector business would promote someone to the next grade and then NOT offer any management or 'how to manage staff' training? The answer is 'None' - but Government departments all do this), and real career opportunities for those who wish to progress (rather than the current 'those who talk-the-talk' promotion bias). This group of issues is not exhaustive - there are many more areas where the Civil Service is failing staff, but those at the top say nothing, as they must - at all costs - remain in favour with their high(er) ranking colleagues - and, of course, to guarantee that nice big SCS pension 😉
Comment by Nick posted on
"I want to lead a Civil Service where it doesn’t matter if you sit in a London policy team or a Newcastle contact centre" - a London centric Civil Service then, where the best jobs are retained within the M25 circle.
"Firstly, the General Election showed the Civil Service’s professionalism and impartiality at their finest. Throughout the purdah period, civil servants helped to keep government and the public services running smoothly; we prepared carefully for all potential outcomes and then swiftly responded to the challenge of serving the new government." That government is now kicking the Civil Service in the teeth with pay increases below the rate of inflation and other cuts to terms and conditions.
Comment by Jim posted on
Most of Sir Jeremy's statements about Digital and GDS are disingenuous cherry-picking and misrepresentation, so I don't know whether to believe anything else he says. And the commercial people I've collided with have been the most obstructive and ignorant gang of overpromoted jobsworths it's ever been my misfortune to encounter, so I can't imagine that paying them even more is going to help in the slightest.
Comment by John posted on
These days pay is the only thing that really motivates staff at the DWP, not how the business in seen in the business world. As an organisation if we don't look after our staff, that reputation on the business seen will fade. Again anyone going into business needs staff to make it work not anything else.
Comment by John posted on
John speaks for us all , the MOD is not a nice place to work in.
Comment by David posted on
We are over reliant on technology, and the urge to digitize expressed in this statement will merely make this problem worse. We and our customers are increasingly vulnerable to system failures, cyber-attacks and data interception, manipulation and theft because we insist on using the internet for everything. We should stop being slaves to an imagined future and recognize the security benefits of operating and delivering services offline in a more traditional way (the Russians are already moving in this direction) .
Comment by John Tann posted on
My team will be made redundant shortly and HMRC are looking to redeploy some of us. But the wider civil service can't get its act together and bother to give us priority for jobs, despite it being in the protocols. Why should we trust that anything will work across the civil service?
Also - If HMRC wants to go into a digital age, why were we excluded from the deal to get cheap Microsoft Office software? The IT skill level here is terrible and it would have helped.
Hopefully someone will read this, as comments are not welcome inside HMRC any more.
Comment by Paul Harcombe posted on
you said we 'prepared carefully for all potential outcomes' before the general election, can it really be true that similar preparations are not being made ahead of the EU referendum as has been stated in the media by govenrment figures? that can't be the way an impartial and professional civil service operates can it?
Comment by Anthony posted on
Sir Jeremy,
Listern to what your staff say and do three things:-
1) a Payrise of at least 5% for all staff
2) Scrap the current performance management system &
3) leave our Terms & Conditions alone.
Comment by William (MoD) posted on
Anthony,
Hope you don't mind, but I think you forgot one of the most important points.
Re-introduce the advancement through the spine points...
Why should I be sitting beside my 2 colleagues and be on £3K a year less?
Why should people be on the minimum of a pay scale for 7 years?
And, why should new starts come in on a higher wage than them?
Comment by Paul posted on
Thumbs up to John's comment above
Comment by John posted on
Sir Jeremy only really needs one "theme" for 2016.
He needs to start listening to his staff.
The same staff that have told him they are totally demoralised by PMR, non stop changes to terms and conditions, and lack of any pay increase anywhere near the rate of inflation for years....
All the rest of what he is talking about is just "window dressing".
Comment by syl posted on
I agree with you totally. We are the resources being reduced but alongside this, our terms and conditions are being change - again. There will be redundancies but there are also changes to our agreed redundancy packages on the way.
In business when you sign a contractual agreement you cannot just change it without agreement with the signatories but I guess these changes will be put in place before announcements of redundancies happen.
To top it off, I understand senior civil servants are negotiating hard on changing their pension arrangements.
One question I would like answering is why MP's who are now on 5 year fixed term contracts are entitled to a pay off if they lose their seats at an election. They are not being made redundant, their 5 year contracts have come to an end.
There is a way for the government to save £4 million pounds of tax payers money in with one cut - stop subsidising the bars in Westminster.
Comment by Bill posted on
You are correct, but you are also asking the impossible.
Comment by Bill posted on
"Departments such as HMRC and DWP are becoming truly digital organisations, transformed from where they were only a few years ago."
The above is technically correct, however, the IT DWP use is so unreliable, and users are spending up to 30 minutes at a time reporting problems, and sometimes multiple problems a day.
The IT skills of the workforce are pitiful at best, a joke at worst, and it is just expected that the staff can just pick up the skills needed. I am not being age-ist, but the staff employed by DWP is getting more mature, and no new-blood is coming in. The general IT skills held are around Entry Level 3 at best, for reference that is about those expected of an average 8 year old child.
There are fundamental problems in the Civil Service, and these are not being addressed.
Comment by syl posted on
Bill
You are being ageist. I am what you class one of the older civil servants but I can assure you my IT skills are not lacking. Before I returned to the civil service I worked in an organisation running a live internet site and these are transferable skills that I brought with me 14 years ago and there are a number of colleagues of a similar age to myself who have an higher IT skillset than myself.
As for the civil servants getting older and I guess by your view of older colleagues not being as useful as younger colleagues, that could be because this government have moved the retirement ages and therefore, of course, civil servants will be working longer into their older years.
Guess you need to just suck it up and stop being so judgemental.
Comment by Bill posted on
I was not being age-ist, I was observing what I see everyday, I am no spring chicken myself, and acknowledge I do not have the IT skills to do my job effectively.
Age doesn't define your level of IT skills, there are 18 year old who are IT illiterate, and 70 year olds who know more than Bill Gates, but there is a correlation in general, due to the skills not being embeded at a younger age, and then practised, which is the important bit.
Comment by RM posted on
The thing Bill is right about is that it is just expected that staff will pick up the IT skills they need. People are given bits of software and told to 'make a graph', 'set up a project plan', compile a database' with no question asked to whether they know how to do that or need any training.
Comment by Neil posted on
The average age of our B2 area is 46, the youngest person being 38 and they want VERS.
Comment by Lee posted on
Make 2016 the year you order the removal of the unfair Performance Marking process and replace it with a model that is tried and tested in outside industry as fair and inclusive.
Comment by Nigel posted on
Sir Jeremy's comments are very welcome and, alongside those from our own Secretary of State, Permamnent Secretary and other Senior Managers, acknowledge the great achievements in our Department and the wider civil service. Why then, with all of this good work being recognised, is the civil service still so devisive? All civil servants (and in particular those in the junior grades) have had to suffer pay restraint for the last five years because, as the PM said, we have to show we are all in it together in trying to turn the economy around. The SR15 announcement made clear that Civil Service salarys will again be capped at 1% increases for the following four financial years, in effect meaning we civil servants will not have had a pay rise for nearly a decade.
The divisiveness I refer to in the civil service is the inequality of pay rates across departments for the same grades. For example, as an HEO in DWP I know I am paid less than an MoD HEO. I am also paid more than an HEO in some other departments. We already have a central HR system across the civil service, so why not centrally agreed pay scales across the grades?
Comment by William (MoD) posted on
Nigel,
I agree that there, on the surface, appears to be disparity on pay between the departments. But - you are not always comparing like with like.
I used to be a SPTO (Professional and Technological Officer) in the MoD, but when the Blair Government created the broader bands - I became an SEO.
The PTO grades used to be paid 2 spine points higher than the Eos, due to the engineering specialisation and entry qualifications being higher.
This meant that when the broader bands were imposed that PTOs "marked time" until the EOs caught up.
Also, if you read the job vacancy adverts you’ll see that often the SEO engineering posts require a BEng Hons, whereas the other “generalists” posts only ask for skill licences or a GCSE level qualifications - Very different from an Honours degree or a 4 year apprenticeship and HNC.
However, the MoD is struggling to recruit and retain engineers because of the changes imposed by previous Governments and these 10 years of pay restraint and the lack of proper training and apprenticeships.
That is one of the reasons that the MoD has “higher” pay than some other Civil Service departments.
Perhaps – what is needed is an INDEPENDENT review of pay to ensure that “we get the right calibre of people”……..
Comment by Graham Shelton posted on
Priority must be to cut red tape in practice, as well as in theory, and stop blaming the EU for all excessive and cumbersome regulation. We may not have it to blame next year, but I guarantee there will be no loss of interference from government in our daily lives unless action is taken now.
Comment by William (MoD) posted on
I agree with the above points in that the Civil Service needs to be inclusive and still treats child care in an excellent manner, and there have been improvements in these areas.
If we are doing so brilliantly, then why is the staff engagement figure 58% and only about a quarter of the staff feel valued and rewarded?
Comment by Stu Holttum posted on
"makes everyone feel included and able to give their best.....that we do everything we can to eliminate bullying and discrimination"
Them remove the "stack ranking" performance system that forces managers to put staff into Must Improve regardless of performance.