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Gisela Stuart: “We should all speak up when integrity and professionalism are being undermined”

Gisela Stuart speaks to this year’s Annual Delegate Conference
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Graham Martin

 

At this year’s Annual Delegate Conference Gisela Stuart, the first Civil Service Commissioner, acknowledged that while “politicians can answer back… civil servants can’t and if they do, it’s usually a resigning matter… I know the FDA has spoken up for its members but we should all speak up when integrity and professionalism is being undermined. Anonymous briefings… risk putting talented people off working in government. We need to respect and celebrate that professionalism… Unless we understand the pressures on each other we will not be able to find common solutions”.

Stuart also discussed her own unusual path to the role of First Civil Service Commissioner, as “unlike most of my predecessors I have not been a civil servant”. But as an MP, non-affiliated Peer and a Crossbencher, she said she has “experienced first-hand the importance of relying on the civil service – their continuity and reliability”. 

The First Civil Service Commissioner also addressed the issue of her own impartiality, following members of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee publicly expressing reservations about her suitability for the role, despite ultimately approving her appointment. Stuart admitted she is “always slightly amused that there seems to be a presumption that once you’ve been a politician, you’re kind of infected with a virus for the rest of your life. I think impartiality is something you can never prove, you can only show it in your conduct”.

Stuart outlined what she would like to achieve as First Civil Service Commissioner, stating that she wants to “put greater focus on persistent poor performance. As a regulator we don’t have the power to sanction but we can make sure that our findings are taken seriously and that action is taken to improve performance”.

Discussing the Commission’s role in ensuring a fair and open recruitment process, Stuart shared her disappointment in the pace of increasing the diversity within the senior civil service: “I assumed things were beginning to change, but they have not. It isn’t enough to talk about the need to change without being prepared to accept that each and every one of us have to help to bring about that change.”

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