The story attributes to Dominic Cummings that
He has already made it clear in private that he will no longer stand for a culture in which it is seen as acceptable for senior officials to go on holiday the day before the announcement of a policy they have been working on for six months.Well, I have some considerable experience of that behaviour. They also go on leave (they won't call it holiday) immediately prior to any important decision being taken, any project key date or any critical deadline. Dubai is one of their favourite destinations - just far enough away to prevent vexatious recall, but just cheap enough to not raise questions about their wealth. In fact I'd be astonished if they haven't already developed some sort of civil service club there. It is quite deliberate, and they think it's quite clever. As soon as they know a key date in the project cycle, they book their tickets and get their leave signed-off.
My own attitude to civil service reform is neither vindictive nor self-defeating. I have a cousin who cannot control his dog; he holds a senior post, is a qualified lawyer, a good husband and decent father but the dog is in charge, to the extent that it has had to be fitted with a muzzle. It can never be let off the lead and is unsocialised with anyone outside the family. I see the civil service as like a dominant dog - capable of great affection, with the potential of great loyalty and selfless service and duty, but which will be fulfilled only when it recognises that it is not the master, but the dog. For dogs, it is only having a master that brings true happiness.
I wish Mr Cummings every success.
I echo your thoughts... but quite a lot can be done without changing the law or striking new internal rules but by changing attitudes.
ReplyDeleteAll the scheduling of leave (booking holiday times) is subject to approval by the manager's manager or wider organisation. But as you climb up the promotion ladder you are accorded more and more autonomy of this and related matters without oversight - this is a 'Spanish Custom' yet 'the rules' still apply in principle.
So change attitudes (harder than changing the rules) and the job is done. Making the 'service' to the citizens/customers more important than the personal expectations of the workers/managers - how quaint.
I've argued before that any organisation which has lasted for more than around 70 years or so is likely to have been 'captured' by the interests of those within it at the expense of those outside. Civil Service, MPs, NHS, long established charities, QUANGOs, Roman Catholic Church please note.
Good point about the complicity of the seniors - from Directors to Permanent Secretaries, the attitude seems to be 'don't ask don't tell' and nod-nod wink-wink, leave dates seem to be unquestioned and contrived ignorance is bliss.
ReplyDeleteAgree about attitude - and my dog metaphor holds. A dominant dog also needs just to change its attitude to become truly useful.
I reckon that the purpose of the civil service should be as an agency between government and business, the purpose of which being to smooth any difficulties that might arise in the efficient collection of taxes for the funding of government and its "notions".
ReplyDeleteHowever since the beginning of the 20th century, it has used the major events of war, recession and natural disaster to fund its unviable projects. I cite as an example the old age pension that is payable immediately, despite there being no financial backing for it. The whole thing began in massive debt, which has only ever got bigger.
Most of its recent projects have gone tits up, and yet ordinary day to day service seems to have been forgotten. Where are the police? etc. etc..
In other words it needs to be put back in its box and made to perform the second part of its job description.... e.g. "service". I am sick of being told that smoking is unhealthy (I don't smoke) or buying Coca Cola in a bottle is a sin, and if you dare to commit it, we will still win, because they are smaller bottles since we introduced the sugar tax. I do like a couple of botts pf Coke a month, I love the sticky itchy teeth that it leaves behind, but I am not going to become fat or diabetic for that amount of indulgence... I thought about it, before I became a Coke (acola) addict.
More seriously, I think that it is worrying that everyone in this country seems to be very close to being a civil servant, even if they aren't paid as such, such people spend an unhealthy amount of their time as businessmen doing the government's work for it.
It used to be thought of as a safe and steady (if not spectacular) career path, for safe and steady people, but nowadays it is a place for people to enrich themselves, and often at the taxpayers expense, with their fancy pensions and sick benefit schemes. Whilst at the same time, make it increasingly difficult for people that are in are private way of business to prosper. These shitty ideas might be born in some nasty socialst's/globalist's little brain muscle, but they are developed by paid lackey's whose job description is that of civil servant.
In short, the consumer of the goose's golden egg.
As an ex (but not a career) Civil Servant, I wish Dominic Cummings every success but he's going to come up against some serious resistance at senior levels.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think many of those working on or near the front line in the Service will support his objectives. They too bear the brunt of the excessive bureaucracy and box-ticking; Managerial-level incompetence; buck-passing; poor decision-making and risk-aversion.
The career progression/promotional system encourages the ambitious to regularly change jobs/departments and is almost designed to ensure that anyone with any useful, practical knowledge of a particular subject moves on. At the lower levels, it's usually a case of the blind leading the blind with precious little genuine support from their line management.
After three-four years of absolute chaos in my former department - resulting from austerity driven "reforms" made by the Cameron/Clegg Administration - I took early retirement and got out..... to preserve my sanity. And I wasn't the only one. Roughly a third of the workforce left/retired during the same period; with knowledge, expertise and experience walking out the door with them.
Believe me, there is nothing more dispiriting than working in the CS, which is every bit as poorly managed, bureaucratic and sclerotic as you have heard ..... and then some.
Courtesy of RSPCA:-
ReplyDelete"Teaching your dog basic obedience like sit, wait and coming back when called gives them the freedom to do the things they like to do, like running off lead and coming with you to meet friends and family, while being safe and under control.
Dogs are intelligent animals and most love to learn so training can be a great way of stopping them from getting bored.
All training should be reward based. Giving your dog something they really like such as food, toys or praise when they show a particular behaviour means that they are more likely to do it again.
It's important to find out what your dog really likes and what their favourite things are. Favourite treats are often small pieces of meat or cheese. The better the reward the more your dog will enjoy training and learning."
Somehow I feel Dominic's approach to training is more like a kick in the bollocks.
Anyway, this is all moot. Boris and Dominic need the Civil Service a lot more than the CS needs Boris and Dommy. Mr Sedwill and friends have seen all this before, many times, it's like dealing with fractious children. Sit tight and wait for pension day.
@DiscoveredJoys
ReplyDeleteI well remember one particular Project Manager who regularly took annual leave the first week or two when one of his major projects started.
From his perspective, it probably made sense. The project was finally on the ground and just starting; any major problems would probably come later as the scheme progressed. But for the office staff dealing with the enquiries and complaints which inevitably landed and trying to iron out any start-up minor hiccups it was a different matter: it was the worst time for the Project Manager to absent himself.
Happened time and again ..... no-one stopped him. I doubt if anyone even tried.
Sacking people can solve a lot of problems.
ReplyDeleteSack Mr Sedwill, take away his title, and give him a dose of public humiliation.
Appoint his successor, give him a year to do as he's told. If doesn't behave as an obedient servant,sack him. Rinse and repeat until the lesson is learned.
Same goes for police chiefs, judges and education managers.
And cut all salaries, pensions and other benefits in half for all these parasites.
The ultimate aim should be to reduce the Civil Service by 90%.
Same for local government. If services are needed,such as road repairs and bin emptying,let market forces and competition thrive.
@John in Cheshire
ReplyDelete"Same for local government. If services are needed,such as road repairs and bin emptying,let market forces and competition thrive."
These services are already contracted out. Whether the Contracts are fit for purpose or properly managed is another matter.
ReplyDeleteAnyone, anywhere, heard or have knowledge of any civil servant being sacked for incompetence?
Anyone, anywhere, OUTSIDE the Civil Service, in a job where incremental pay rises apply regardless of efficiency?
Anyone, anywhere, outside the Civil Service, got a gold plated guaranteed pension plan?
Should I go on?
It´s hard to teach dangerous old dogs new tricks, better to shoot them and get a new one. Hard on the dog when it´s the trainer who should be shot.
ReplyDeleteDeeDee99 @ 08:20 :
ReplyDeleteAren’t the constant civil service job changes (every 18 months I have just read) possibly used as a method to contain/reduce corruption ?
I agree with Dave_g @ 11:31 that I find it extraordinary that I never seem to read of any civil servant being sacked for incompetence, malfeasance, corruption or misbehaviour.
I would think Mr. Cummings would like to tackle the civil service leaks.
There is one...that I know of; very recent: Diane Abbott's son! Also he has just been up on ELEVEN separate counts of abuse and assault against NHS staff and Police...
ReplyDeleteImagine how bad he was to get sacked from cushy CS role.
Imagine how bad the press would be had it been a front bench Conservative MP's son...anyone seen a dickie-bird on BBC or Sky?
I wonder how Dom's "interest" in eugenics is progressing?
ReplyDeleteMaybe he'll spare the post-industrial surplus fodder in places like Bolsover for the time being eh?
Span Ows @ 16:30 :
ReplyDeleteI don’t suppose the selective private school which Ms Abbot’s son attended, The City of London, will be too happy with Ms Abbott saying (to explain her hypocrisy on the use of a private school) when she was running for the Labour leadership in 2010 :
“I knew what could happen if my son went to the wrong school and got in with the wrong crowd. They are subjected to peer pressure and when that happens it’s very hard for a mother to save her son.”
Dominic is looking to recruit weirdos according to his latest blog. I didn't understand a word of it.
ReplyDeleteM.
@John Brown 15:50
ReplyDeleteI am not aware of any Senior CS sacked for incompetence, malfeasance or corruption.
In the lower orders, which I freely admit is what I was - junior management leading a small, specialist team - it was virtually unheard of. If possible, someone incompetent would be moved to a different team so responsibility for the problem was transferred.
One of the very few useful outcomes of the Cameron/Clegg "austerity reforms" was an exercise to offer a limited number of redundancies, with the Dept Head deciding which applicants would be accepted. That was used to clear out some serial incompetents in my former Dept. They'd been employed for years, with no action taken about their performance.
Correct, @Jim - To run with the dog metaphor: pay them by results. No, wait - this is the state sector. Is Cummings going to try to sack three-quarters of them? A big clearout seemed to be what Johnson was dreaming of in his "Dream of Rome", although it was after that that he became mayor of London and he didn't de-BSify much there.
ReplyDelete@John in Cheshire: "Sack Mr Sedwill, take away his title, and give him a dose of public humiliation."
ReplyDeleteGot to agree with you there. It would be great to see senior officials who have been in charge of (for example) £100m projects which they have failed to make a success to be
* declared bankrupt,
* stripped of their pension,
* denied the right to future paid jobs in public service,
* given a minimum six months in prison, and
* given a damned hard public birching.
There's a case for making them do a couple of years in the fields when they come out of jail too.
It wouldn't have to be done a large number of times. Deep down, they know what they are.