FDA responds to Conservative proposals on accountability of civil servants

FDA general secretary Jonathan Baume responded yesterday on BBC Two's The Daily Politics to Conservative proposals that permanent secretaries should be placed on fixed-term contracts. Also under the raft of proposals, non-executive members of departmental boards would be able to recommend to the cabinet secretary and Prime Minister that permanent secretaries should be removed from their post in certain circumstances.

Baume said these proposals were part of political positioning in the pre-election period and there was a danger they send "very unhelpful signals to the civil service about how a Conservative government might work in practice".