Penman questions Chief Secretary to the PM on how civil servants can trust they won’t be scapegoated by ministers for taking risks

As reported in the Financial Times, The Guardian and Civil Service World, the FDA has responded to a series of civil service reforms announced by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones MP, as part of the government’s approach to modernising the service.

These include reforming the performance management system for senior civil servants to provide fewer but higher bonuses for high achievers, a call for civil servants to innovate and take greater risks. and the establishment of a new National School of Government and Public Services.

Following Jones’ speech, FDA General Secretary Dave Penman questioned the minister on his call for civil servants to innovate, saying: “if civil servants are to take the risks that innovation brings, then ministers need to provide the political cover for the risk of failure”, and added that civil servants “will need [to be] convinced that the rhetoric and political reality align”.

Jones responded: “Ministers in the past have said to civil servants, ‘You take more risk.’ And then if it goes wrong, they say, ‘What were you doing?’ Civil servants need to know that when I or my other ministerial colleagues say, ‘Please take more risk,’ that we then say, ‘We are with you in taking that risk, and I will be accountable to Parliament and to the public if something goes wrong.’”

The minister continued:

“I am perfectly comfortable with risks being taken if it achieves a better, quicker outcome. Of course there will be points of failure. You’re never going to get anything perfect the first time round. You would never expect that. Doesn’t mean you should be reckless, but it does mean that when you’re moving quickly, you should be willing to take higher risk than is currently the case.

“But the key point, and this is the key point on the taskforce, is not only do you have the support of me and the Prime Minister, and the Chancellor and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, but you’ll have a ministerial colleague from the Cabinet Office with you on the task force, too. So we will own that risk together, and we’ll be accountable for it.”

Penman also published an opinion piece in Civil Service World responding to the reforms, welcoming the reintroduction of the National School of Government and Public Services as representing a “real sense… that the government want greater capacity and capability in-house”, and a “no brainer”. He also welcomed plans to reduce bureaucracy, saying “it’s an issue that frustrates many a civil servant and it’s not always clear why it happens, but if they can crack it then it should really help with pace.”

Discussing the changes to SCS bonuses and performance management, Penman wrote:

“There was, inevitably, the focus on carrots and sticks. Ministers can’t help themselves but focus on performance management and bonuses. It’s not to say it isn’t an issue that needs attention or reform, but ultimately it gets far more bandwidth than it deserves and feels like a bit of red meat being thrown to sections of the press.”