FDA URGES CAUTION OVER RUSHING HOME OFFICE SPLIT

Home Office and the FDA does not believe that departmental boundaries are immutable and should never change. However, we question the wisdom of rushing through such significant machinery of government changes within a matter of weeks. "Ministers must remember that reorganising a department takes considerable time and resources, and needs careful planning, if it is to be successful. The track record is not exemplary in this respect, despite the best efforts of the civil servants involved." The FDA says that the changes will impact more than 50,000 staff, and fundamental operational issues such as differing IT systems and organisational structures have yet to be considered. "No private sector company of 50,000 staff would plan to implement a merger within this timeframe, so how can it be suitable for organisations responsible for protection of the public? "Machinery of government changes must be clearly thought-through and implemented within an appropriate timescale. In protecting public order and security, it is much more important to get the systems and structures right than to meet some arbitrary but politically- expedient timeline. The FDA is urging caution lest these changes are made in an ill-considered manner, and create problems down the line. "The assertion that these changes can be implemented within existing resources simply does not reflect the reality of experience with machinery of government changes. Moreover, restructuring will require staff to stop working on core Home Office functions and tackle these new priorities to meet the Government's timeline. This is at a time when staff and resources are already stretched to breaking point. "There is no quick fix for the Home Office. Signing a paper to split the department in two will not solve the department's problems. What are needed are focused priorities and adequate resources. As part of this restructure it will be imperative that the Government reflects on the resources it is currently allocating to the Home Office to ensure they match the scale of the challenges it faces." ### Notes for Editors 1. The FDA is the trade union and professional body representing 17,000 of the UK's senior civil and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians, accountants, special advisers, government lawyers, diplomats, crown prosecutors and NHS managers. 2. The FDA (formerly First Division Association) should be referred to simply as "The FDA" and can be described as "the senior public servants union". 3. For further information contact:

• Dave Penman, FDA head of operations, 020 7401 5555
• Jessica Stark, FDA head of communications, 020 7401 5587 or 07967 484 441