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SPRING 2018
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FDA in the
news
March
He was also a Civil Service Diversity one of his last interviews, he told Civil Penman “cautiously welcomed” the
Champion and the first leader of the Service World that he would eschew House of Commons Commission’s
Government Legal Department (GLD), the traditional Latin, instead opting for decision to launch an independent
and was an undeniably passionate ‘Speak truth unto power’. inquiry but insisted that it must look
advocate for both equality and shared Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy into specific allegations against MPs,
services. Heywood called Sir Paul’s death after Leader of the Commons Andrea
Despite seeing it as personally “pretty “shattering news”, referring to him as Leadsom appeared to rule out the
meaningless”, Sir Paul recognised “one of the finest public servants of inquiry dealing with individual cases.
the “very powerful signal” sent by his his generation and the warmest, most Westminster bullying claims: House
position as a senior gay public servant vivacious of colleagues”. Jenkins’s of Commons approves independent
who was voted onto media lists of successor at GLD, Jonathan Jones, investigation into allegations MPs
influence. In a 2013 PSM interview, he called Sir Paul a “wise lawyer, proud mistreated staff
said: “Being gay is not just for Elton public servant, loyal friend, incorrigible
CHRIS HARRIS / THE TIMES / NEWS LICENSING
HUFFPOST UK
John and Stephen Fry – it’s about gossip, frank and funny tweeter, great
Dave Penman then wrote directly to all
ordinary people doing ordinary jobs, human being”.
Westminster party leaders calling on
and that’s why it’s important to me.” FDA General Secretary Dave
them to “put aside politics” and publicly
Sir Paul was also a long-standing Penman said Sir Paul “represented
back an independent inquiry that
member of the FDA. In the same the best of public service – a respected
investigates individual cases.
interview, he told PSM editor Kay professional, a charismatic leader, a
Hender: “I’m a huge fan of the FDA, champion for equality and an advocate Westminster bullying: Party leaders
I’ve been a member of the FDA since for his union. We know many members urged by civil service union to back
1979 and I’m very proud of the fact I’m a will have fond memories of him and will inquiry into allegations against MPs
member of the FDA.” be mourning his untimely passing.” HUFFPOST UK
Working hours
Job vacancy
Leadership
Melanie Dawes set to speak at Brexit boss labels his own officials
FDA annual conference wrong
METRO
Members attending this year’s FDA Brexit minister Steve Baker attacks civil
Annual Delegate Conference will hear servants over leaked impact paper
from one of the civil service’s most senior THE TIMES
officials, Melanie Dawes, when they PM will not sack Brexit minister over
gather in London on 11 May. civil service ‘conspiracy theory’ row
Dawes, Permanent Secretary of the DAILY MAIL
Ministry of Housing, Communities and
Tory minister Steve Baker says sorry
Local Government (MHCLG), has been
to parliament over civil servants Brexit
confirmed as keynote speaker at the
sabotage row
conference.
POLITICS HOME
She also has substantial experience
at the centre of government, serving as Key topics set for discussion this Jacob Rees-Mogg doubled down on
gender champion for the civil service, year include equal pay, performance the accusations that Treasury officials
and sitting on both the Senior Leadership management, workload, harassment and were “fiddling the figures” in Brexit
Committee and the Civil Service Board, bullying, and civil service impartiality. forecasts, leading Dave Penman to
which is responsible for the strategic Delegates will also have a chance step up his defence of the civil service
leadership of the organisation as a to discuss the future development in interviews on Sky News, Channel 4
whole. of the union, find out about pro- News and the BBC News Channel. His
Prior to joining the MHCLG, Dawes was fessional development and networking comments also featuring on BBC One’s
Director General of the influential Eco- opportunities, and learn about plans to national Weekend News.
nomic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat in mark the FDA’s centenary in 2019. This resulted in coverage on BBC Radio
the Cabinet Office. She has also worked at 4 and Radio 5 Live as well as significant
senior level for HM Revenue and Customs The Annual Delegate Conference coverage on regional BBC radio
and spent 15 years in the Treasury. takes place on 10 May at Mary Ward stations, including BBC Radio Wales,
The ADC also offers delegates the House, Tavistock Place, London WC1. BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Ulster.
chance to debate the key issues facing All FDA members are encouraged
civil service leaders and set the priorities to attend as observers. For more
of the union for the year ahead. information, email adc@fda.org.uk.
Bullying
Rob Macaire has been recommend pay levels for the police
named as Her Majesty’s and the NCA respectively. Chatterji
new ambassador to Iran, is Director of Studies in Economics
succeeding Nicholas at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and also
Hopton as the UK’s a fellow of Sidney Sussex College,
man in Tehran. Macaire Cambridge. He has previously carried
first joined the Ministry of Defence in out work for the School Teachers
1987, transferring to the Foreign and Review Body, the Welsh Remuneration
Commonwealth Office in 1990, where Board and the Independent
he focused on the Middle East and Parliamentary Standards Authority
counter-terrorism. He is the FCO’s (IPSA).
former Director of Consular Services, Baroness Stowell has
and moves to the Iran job after a stint been named as the next
as Director of Political Risk for oil and chair of the Charity
gas multinational BG Group and then Commission, succeeding
as a language trainer. The FCO said William Shawcross.
in a statement that Hopton would be Stowell has been a Conservative peer
transferring to another Diplomatic since 2011, and served as Leader of Paula Houghton
Service post. the House of Lords under then-Prime
HMRC Training and
Elsewhere in the FCO, Minister David Cameron from 2014
Development Manager
Frank Baker has to 2016. Prior to her political career,
been appointed as HM Stowell was a civil servant, having
As a teenager, all I wanted to do was
ambassador to Libya. joined the Ministry of Defence in 1986
join HM Armed Forces. After
Baker has been with the before transferring to the Downing
university, I joined the Royal Navy but
FCO since 1981 and was Street Press Office. Her appointment
my career was cut short by an
previously the UK’s ambassador in as head of the charity regulator has
accident – so that would be the
Baghdad and, before that, Kuwait City. met with some controversy, with MPs
obvious choice for my alternative
Baker has spent a significant chunk of on the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
career, wouldn’t it? Well, maybe, but if
his career in Washington, having been Committee rejecting her candidacy.
I am looking back and can choose
posted there on secondment from 1996 Their objections were overruled by
anything, perhaps it should be
to 1998 before again returning to DC as Culture Secretary Matt Hancock, who
something I never did.
a political and military counsellor from said Stowell would be “a brilliant chair
2000 to 2007, a period that covered the of the Charity Commission”.
I spend a huge proportion of my own
second Gulf War. He succeeds Peter Julie Lennard has been named as
time working with teenagers these
Millett in the Libyan post. interim chief executive of the Driver
days. I currently run two Air Cadet
Nick Jobling has taken over as and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA),
squadrons and I love almost every
interim Chief Executive of the Met taking over from Oliver Morley,
minute of it. The opportunity to offer
Office, following the departure of who is moving on to become the
experiences to kids who wouldn’t
Rob Varley. Jobling steps up from his new CEO of the Pension Protection
otherwise get them – climbing,
former job as Deputy Chief Executive Fund. Lennard joined the DVLA
kayaking, target shooting, camping,
and Chief Finance Officer of the in 2014 as the agency’s Director of
flying and a whole host of other
national weather service. The Met Strategy, Policy and Communications.
things – is the most rewarding thing in
Office said Jobling’s appointment She has previously worked at the
the world.
was “pending the appointment of a National Archives and the consumer
permanent Chief Executive in due organisation Which?.
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a
course”.
13-year old’s excitement when they
Professor Monojit Chatterji has
land after flying their first
been appointed for a three-year Have you or someone you
loop-the-loop! So, if I could convince
term as a member of both the Police work with recently joined
somebody to pay me for it, I would be
Remuneration Review Body and or left the public service?
working in that area.
the National Crime Agency Review Please let us know at
Body, the independent bodies which psm@fda.org.uk
The FDA’s Fast Stream section the Department for International Trade, questions that matter to our members.
committee was set up last and will be hosting an annual general If you are a Fast Streamer wanting
year to boost representation meeting in April – this will be an ideal to get more involved with the FDA, or
for Fast Stream members. opportunity to meet and connect with would just like more information about
Damon Fairley looks back on a other Fast Streamers, and we encourage the Fast Steam section or our events,
successful first year and sets all Fast Stream members to attend. please contact National Officer Steven
out the committee’s priorities Although our reach has improved over Littlewood (steven@fda.org.uk) for
for the year ahead. the past year, there is still much work to further details.
do and we are keen to ensure every Fast
Just under a year ago, the FDA Fast Stream FDA member feels supported, Damon Fairley is Convenor of the FDA
Stream section committee was represented and involved in their union. Fast Stream section committee.
established to provide an enhanced We have also taken a closer look at
representative structure for Fast Stream how our rep structure works, and intend
FDA members. As the recognised trade to introduce some changes to improve
union for Fast Streamers, the FDA members’ access to our reps. We will
has always provided a strong voice continue to work closely with the civil
for these grades and has achieved service Fast Stream team – enhancing
much, not least the mid-scheme pay our already good working relationship
uplift for centrally-managed Fast – to raise and resolve the concerns and Impact
Streamers. By setting up the section Award
committee, the FDA has been able to
involve more members in their union Nominations are open for 2018
and provide grassroots representation the FDA’s new ‘Impact Award’
to the civil service Fast Stream team,
which manages the scheme across The FDA is launching a new ‘Impact Award’ to celebrate the successes and hard work of
government. branches and reps across the union, and the impact they have on FDA members.
In its first year, the Fast Stream The award will be presented for the first time at this year’s Annual Delegate Conference,
section committee has been effective taking place on Thursday 10 May at Mary Ward House, 5-7 Tavistock Place, London WC1.
at representing members through a Nominations can be made for individual members or for branches in the following areas:
period of change within the Fast Stream.
Among other things, we’ve played an Campaigning: where a local campaign Recruitment: for significant recruitment
active role in ensuring the move from has successfully engaged members and/or of new members, reversing a declining
HMRC to the Cabinet Office had a largely brought about a win for the FDA membership, or recruiting members
positive impact on Fast Streamers, from unengaged areas or in challenging
with an increase in starting pay for Engagement: for increasing members’
circumstances
centrally managed Fast Streamers to involvement in the FDA, achieving high
£28,000 and a more generous annual levels of participation in branch structures Casework: where a significant win has
leave allowance. We’ve also been busy or surveys, or regular successful events been achieved – in a difficult case or one
representing individual Fast Streamers that has resulted in wider change within
Branch development: introducing
in ongoing issues including disputes the department
new forms of communication, recruiting
over end of posting reviews and members to the branch committee, Negotiation: where a win has been
securing reasonable adjustments for increasing branch activity levels achieved for members collectively through
members with disabilities. negotiations with the employer
A key focus for the committee over the
coming months will be continuing to Nominations should detail the issue facing members, the work undertaken by the
raise the profile of the FDA amongst Fast member or branch, the outcome and the impact it has had on members and/or the FDA
Streamers. This year, we have organised as a whole. Nominations close on 23 April 2018 and should be sent to FDA Organiser
a networking and Q&A event with Alan Bailey at organiser@fda.org.uk.
Antonia Romeo, Permanent Secretary at
Despite priding herself on her mental the member’s requests for reasonable
resilience and her conscientious work adjustments being accepted, including
ethic, one FDA member found herself working on an 80% workload and being
struggling after being diagnosed with a taken off the overnight rota.
chronic condition that caused her severe Another recommendation was for a
pain and discomfort. temporary move to a different job until
Following her diagnosis, she found her her health improved. However, when the
condition was having an impact on her employer claimed this would be difficult
work and personal wellbeing: “The effect to achieve, the member was happy to
on me of both the medication and the accept a permanent move as an
pain was fatigue. I wasn’t particularly alternative.
clear headed at the time and also it With the support of the union, she
affected my resilience, particularly my settled into a new role that was more
ability to deal with stress.” suited to her, and allowed greater
The role she was working in could be flexibility to manage her condition and
high-pressured and required her to look after her health. Since the
potentially work outside of normal work- reasonable adjustments were put in
ing hours, with some overnight working. to get both her health and working life place the member has noticed a marked
A specialist consultant had advised that back on track. The main way of improvement in her productivity, even
doing this would exacerbate her health achieving this was through a formal earning a bonus in the first couple of
condition and wrote a letter to this request for an occupational health (OH) months following the move.
effect. Unfortunately, her line-manager assessment, which Jane then helped the Although clearly frustrated that
didn’t offer any support or make any member to navigate. adjustments weren’t made sooner, her
reasonable adjustments to help the “In my state of not being entirely clear health is now improving as a result of the
member manage her work. headed or particularly resilient, having move and she is happy in her new job:
“I can’t describe the stress that put on somebody that understood those “My pain days get less and less but I do
me,” she recalls. “I don’t usually suffer procedures and was able to talk me have periods where it’s bad, and my new
from stress but I didn’t have the through them and show me where it employer is really good with it. It’s just
resilience to deal with this.” was going was fantastic,” the member completely different, I feel valued and did
Going through this stressful time, the explains. “She really helped me identify not feel valued on my old team at all.
member described FDA National Officer the best way of putting the right words “Jane made me be able to stand up for
Jane Cockram as her “only port of refuge”. down to explain my situation, and also myself at a time when I really couldn’t. I
“She actually understood the condition what questions I needed answering to needed somebody’s help until I was
I was going through and the effects of get the reasonable adjustments I better enough to be able to cope.
both that and the drugs. In one sense I needed.” “She was a godsend. I don’t use that
think she helped me keep my sanity The OH assessment resulted in all of word lightly, and I really do mean that.”
because I was speaking to somebody
that understood and recognised the
problem. I wasn’t getting that anywhere
On Your Case gives FDA and Keystone members the chance to share
else.” their experiences of problems at work and talk about how the union
As well as offering a compassionate can help to resolve them. If you’d like to share your story, drop us a line
ear, Jane supported the member to win at psm@fda.org.uk. If requested, anonymity is guaranteed.
the reasonable adjustments she needed
Whitehall needs
critical friends,
not silent
partners
A new study finds
Whitehall non-
execs are enjoying
increasingly
productive
relationships with
civil servants, but
many feel frustrated by their
limited role and a lack of
engagement with ministers,
writes Robert Hazell.
The Constitution Unit has just completed Most NEDs say they make their greatest new projects. Typical of NEDs’ responses
the first major study of non-executive contribution outside the board. This was this terse comment: “Most helpful =
board members in Whitehall (commonly includes coaching and mentoring, support of the Perm Sec. Absent = input of
known as non-executive directors, or advising on major projects and testing the SoS”.
NEDs). Our research, carried out by delivery chains. They feel that senior NEDs easily find affinity with
four former senior civil servants, found officials greatly value their advice and Permanent Secretaries, with shared
that non-executives are high calibre, expertise, their mentoring role and interests in leadership, management
committed people, whose expertise is willingness to take on extra tasks. One and delivery. But the key relationship
greatly valued by the civil service. But said: “the most valuable role I play is as a is between the lead NED and ministers,
NEDs find the role frustrating, and feel sounding board for senior civil servants”. whose trust and respect they need to
they could be much more effective if the But NEDs expressed less satisfaction gain. This takes time, and is not helped
system only allowed. with the central part of their role, as by recent high ministerial turnover as a
Non-executives were first introduced board members. Few Whitehall boards result of the reshuffles after the 2015 and
in the early 1990s, but received a strong are said to be working well, and NEDs 2017 elections – and another in January
boost in 2010, when Cabinet Office say ministers fail to understand their 2018, which saw five new Secretaries of
minister Francis Maude announced that purpose, dislike challenge, and find it State.
departmental boards would include at hard to set priorities – especially if that The single departmental plan (SDP)
least four NEDs, largely drawn from the involves dropping things to make way for is the vehicle for ensuring realistic
commercial private sector. There are now planning is matched to resources.
around 80 NEDs in 20 departments. Framing and managing SDPs should
They are high-calibre people, mainly oblige ministers to decide which
from business but also other professional Non execs say projects to shed or downgrade. NEDs
backgrounds, and usually very senior in ministers fail to are closely involved, but there is still
their own fields. They are not in it for the understand their some reluctance to challenge ministers’
money, or to build a CV; their motivation wish to do everything, and point out the
is one of public service. They contribute a
purpose, dislike consequential risks of overstretch. NEDs
lot more time than they signed up for: on challenge and find it could have a greater role, alongside
average 45 days a year. hard to prioritise Permanent Secretaries’ duties as
Going in with
our eyes open
Defence Permanent Secretary Stephen Lovegrove is the
man with the tricky job of delivering the government’s
expansive defence commitments on the tight budget set
by the Treasury. Difficult choices lie ahead, he tells
Matt Ross in our exclusive interview.
S
tephen Lovegrove’s from the Nat Sec Review was a step
career path makes him a
Stephen Lovegrove: the backwards.”
rarity among permanent making of Whitehall’s Lovegrove, though, says firmly that
secretaries: a former defence chief “the defence review cannot be separated
consultant and investment from a wider national security strategy;
banker, he entered the civil that would be crazy, and we would never
1989: Graduates from Corpus Christi
service in his late 30s via the Shareholder dream of doing it”. The new Defence
College, Oxford, with a first class
Executive – which managed government- Modernisation Programme (DMP),
degree in English
owned businesses. And his 2013 he argues, was required because the
promotion to Permanent Secretary at the 1990: Joins Hydra Associates, a NSCR showed that “defence needed
then-Department for Energy and Climate strategic media consultancy to spend some more time thinking
Change was equally unusual: he got the through some issues around capability
1995: Joins Deutsche Bank, becoming
job after PM David Cameron vetoed the and sustainability which had arisen,
head of the European Media Team
recruitment panel’s chosen candidate, peculiarly in the defence area, because of
economist and climate change expert 2004: Joins the Shareholder the changes we’ve seen in the last couple
David Kennedy. Executive, which managed the of years.”
Cameron explained that DECC’s civil government’s shareholdings in What Lovegrove is saying – very
service chief, above all, would need companies diplomatically – is that the MoD couldn’t
“commercial experience and the ability square its budgets, the savings currently
2007: Becomes Chief Executive of the
to do deals”; his focus would be delivery, falling out of its efficiency programmes,
Shareholder Executive
not policymaking. In an interview at the and the military capabilities required of
time he took charge, Lovegrove told me 2008: Appointed to the Organising it. The DMP is, he explains, designed to
he was glad the main planks of DECC Committee for London Olympics and create “a clear-eyed assessment of the
policy were already decided: “It means Paralympics threat; a clear-eyed assessment of the
we can concentrate on implementation,” capabilities we need to meet that threat;
2013: Appointed Permanent and a clear-eyed assessment of how we
he said.
Secretary at the Department of need to go about affording them – and if
Five years on – and nearly two years
Energy and Climate Change there are difficult choices that need to be
into his stint as Permanent Secretary
at the Ministry of Defence – it appears 2016: Becomes Permanent Secretary made, I’m sure we will make them.”
that, as so often in government, things at the Ministry of Defence There is quite a lot of preparatory
didn’t quite work out as planned. “My work to do, Lovegrove adds, “before we
assessment that all the policy had get to the stage where we think that the
been done when I arrived and that it government, most notably the National budget and the [required] capabilities are
was all about execution was probably Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office, an exact match.” As well as its defence
a bit optimistic,” he says now with a the Foreign Office, DfID, the [intelligence] priorities and its efficiency programmes,
wry smile. “There was a lot of policy agencies and the Home Office. Our policy he says, the MoD must rethink its
development there, and the Secretary of role is avowedly pan-governmental.” “operating model” and “make sure
State changed – so it was not a policy-free After years of growing integration that we’re in the best possible and most
zone by any stretch of the imagination!” in defence and security policymaking, productive partnership with the industry
Indeed, in policymaking terms the job defence secretary Gavin Williamson’s that supports us.”
proved something of a baptism of fire. announcement in January that he’d This suggests the need for further
“Some of the public policy things we be rethinking the MoD’s aspects of the changes at Defence Equipment and
were doing were about as complicated National Security Capability Review Support, the MoD’s procurement agency,
as you could possibly imagine,” he (NSCR) sparked concerns – with former which in 2014 won greater autonomy
recalls. “If I’m honest, in some ways national security adviser Peter Ricketts and the right to sidestep civil service
they were too complicated. The Green tweeting that “separating out Defence pay controls. But these reforms have
Deal was a case in point: it was an overly already helped curtail the military’s
complicated instrument for a perfectly Even a large rise tendency to regularly alter contracts
good end, but it didn’t work and we had and specifications – producing “tens of
to close it down.” in the wage bill millions of pounds of savings through
The stakes are, of course, higher still is dwarfed by a small better controls,” says Lovegrove. And
at the MoD, where policymaking has a DE&S is now “moving on from some of
different slant and several additional fall in Defence the consultancy relationships, which
layers of complexity. In defence, Equipment and are quite expensive, and hiring people
Lovegrove explains, policymaking in so that they’re a durable and enduring
focuses on building capabilities to give Support spending. It’s resource rather than a bought-in service.”
“the nation the military wherewithal to got to be worthwhile Using its pay freedoms, he adds, DE&S
do what it wants to do.” And the wider “has a model where people and teams
policy framework is “very consciously
for the taxpayer to do are genuinely rewarded for hard work;
created in conjunction with other parts of that.” and the corollary of that is that they’re
quite brisk about changing things when its work without relying on other bits of
they need to, in a way that possibly the the civil service; and it has a lot to learn
rest of the civil service finds a bit more from other bits of the civil service,” he
difficult”. argues. “So I don’t see that there is any
So does DE&S’s experience point to downside to trying to make the MoD
the need to pay higher salaries when the more open.”
civil service must compete with business The ministry has much to teach as
to hire in specialist skills? “There is a well as to learn, he adds, citing its skills
good case, yes,” he replies. “Its wage in emergency management, planning,
bill is a tiny fraction of the money that export promotion and international
goes through DE&S every year; even a engagement. “So it’s a two-way street –
large rise in the wage bill is dwarfed by a but I do think that the very distinctive
small fall in DE&S spending. It’s got to be culture of defence could open itself up
worthwhile for the taxpayer to do that.” a bit more to influences, not just from
For many MoD civil servants, though, Whitehall but actually to wider society
the prospect is not of pay rises but of as well,” he says. “We want to lower the
seeing their jobs outsourced: in 2015 drawbridge a bit.”
the government pledged to cut their The MoD will, however, always retain
numbers by 17,000, or 30%. Tasked a unique world view – for it has a unique
with saving £310m annually on the I think we‘ve job to do. And like his predecessor,
civilian paybill by 2020, Lovegrove says been guilty of Jon Thompson, Lovegrove has clearly
that outsourcing is not a “universal immersed himself in the ministry’s
panacea”, but argues that “we need to squeezing learning out culture. On his office walls a pop-art
be really thoughtful about which jobs of people’s work plan. Tiger tank seems to burst out of its
need to be done by defence personnel picture frame, whilst his bookcase
and where we could get a better service, We need to insist that carries a roll of toilet paper printed with
and possibly provide better careers for people take time out of Vladimir Putin’s face. “A present from
people, if jobs were in the private sector”. Ukraine,” he comments, deadpan.
To deliver such huge changes, their professional lives As Lovegrove gets stuck into the
Lovegrove will have to strengthen for it.” Defence Modernisation Programme,
the ministry’s ability to deliver working to balance the government’s
reform programmes: at 31%, its 2017 vaunting military ambitions with the
Civil Service People Survey score for in Shrivenham, near Swindon, where Treasury’s tight grip on the purse strings,
‘leadership and managing change’ is the MoD’s Defence Academy is also he’ll need to call on all the commitment,
some 16 points below the average for based. This is not, says Lovegrove, a loyalty and expertise of his civilian and
all Whitehall departments. Meanwhile resurrection of the National School of military staff. He will also need political
its ‘learning and development’ score Government – closed by the coalition cover from his Defence Secretary –
has sunk from eight points ahead of the government in 2012 – but it does reflect and here, perhaps, his hand may be
average in 2009 to three points behind in a need for residential training to provide strengthened by Gavin Williamson’s
2017 – an embarrassing statistic, given “a really intense focus over a couple ambitions and connections.
Lovegrove’s role as chair of the Civil of days in order to get the value out of So one last question: might the MoD’s
Service Learning and Leadership Board. [courses], which is why we decided it bid for a sustainable budget be aided by
“It’s one of the areas that people are was important that there was a place the fact that the Defence Secretary is on a
rightly dissatisfied with,” he concedes. where people could stay.” set of manoeuvres of his own? Lovegrove
“I think we’ve been guilty of squeezing One of the Academy’s work strands does not, of course, answer directly.
learning out of people’s work plan. We focuses on the lessons of Chilcot – “The Secretary of State is very clear that
need to insist that people take time out of and, asked how he hopes such training defence in the UK needs to be prioritised
their professional lives for it.” can help shift the culture of the MoD, and modernised,” he replies. “Defence is
This dynamic has weakened learning Lovegrove replies that “we don’t have a not something we can take for granted.
for senior officials as well as more junior particularly optimised culture for giving The first duty of any government is to
ones, he believes: “It’s something that challenge. There are moments when keep its citizens safe, and a lot of the
we’ve allowed to become less prominent it’s really important that ministers and responsibility for that falls to defence.
over the years, and we need to start senior officials are exposed to the full There are threats in the world, and
building that up again,” he says. “We range of options.” defence is here to try and make sure
need to invest in the leadership skills of He also wants to break down some that we can deal with them – so I think a
our most senior people, and we haven’t of the long-standing barriers between higher profile national debate about this
done as much of that as we should have”. the MoD and other departments. The is no bad thing.” I think that’s a ‘yes’.
Here, there is firm progress to report: in ministry “is part of the civil service; it
September the Civil Service Leadership can’t do its work except in service of Matt Ross is a journalist and
Academy opened a permanent base other bits of the civil service; it can’t do communications adviser to the FDA.
Public
PublicService
ServiceMagazine
MagazineSpring
Spring 2018 19
Mental health
to design and deliver the mental health We all have good employee mental health is one way
awareness workshop at Civil Service they can do this… Showing staff that
Live.
and bad mental employee mental health is a key priority,
Kay emphasises that engaging senior health at different and one that they are willing to be
managers is crucial to shifting the measured against, is a step towards
workplace culture towards improving
times according to creating a positive culture where… staff
mental health. “I was a bit surprised to what we’re feel able to talk about their mental health
see members of the SCS on the mental problems.”
health first aid training when I joined,
experiencing. It’s This would certainly be an
but actually we’ve now trained 12 SCS important to make unprecedented step, with big potential
members,” she says. “More than 40 first to drive meaningful change. But how
aiders have gone on to become mental
sure it isn’t a niche it will be implemented across the civil
health ambassadors, and they provide agenda" service remains to be seen. “We don’t yet
a listening and advice service to people have any other examples of this being
who need it, including line managers One of the persistent themes in the done before,” admits McGuinness.
who want to support their staff.” The Stevenson-Farmer report is the need Since returning to work, Duncan says
ministry also runs specialised wellbeing for employers to move away from the he has benefited from some adjustments
workshops for senior leaders, including traditional ‘performance management’ to his workload and from taking part in
some facilitated by FDA national officer approach, where mental health a staff wellbeing network. “Colleagues
Jane Cockram. problems – if they were discussed at all have been much more supportive than I
Staff resilience and good mental – were tackled as issues of individual expected and [management] have been
health is very much a live issue for Kay as capability. This lead to a ‘culture of willing to make some changes, which
a manager. In her ‘day job’, she leads for silence’, where employees kept quiet have definitely helped me,” he says. But
the department on Grenfell recovery and about mental health problems for fear of he still fears his career has suffered and
resilience. “Some of our teams have been demotion, reprimand – or worse. doesn’t feel confident about pursuing
working with Kensington and Chelsea Instead, says McGuinness, employers promotion opportunities in the near
Council on support for all those affected need “to create a culture where staff future. “I still feel there’s this bit of a
by the fire. So I’ve get a set of staff who’ve feel able to talk openly about stress and stigma hanging over me,” he adds.
had to be quite resilient over the last mental health, and know that if they Duncan still doubts many of his
year,” she says. do, they’ll be be met with support and colleagues would be willing to discuss
“It really brings home the point that understanding rather than stigma and mental health problems openly
we’re trying to get across in the civil discrimination.” with senior managers. “Maybe more
service: that we all have good and This also means managers taking managers are willing to have that kind
bad mental health at different times some responsibility for the mental of [supportive] conversation now, but I
depending on what we’re experiencing. wellbeing of their staff, something that is don’t think it’s enough to change the way
An important part of this is making sure reflected in one of the Stevenson-Farmer people feel,” he says.
that mental health isn’t a kind of niche report’s most striking recommendations: Whitehall has come a long way since
agenda; it’s something that’s relevant to that civil service leaders should have the Sir Robert Armstrong was reduced to
everyone – and it became really relevant mental wellbeing of their staff enshrined rolling around on the Downing Street
to all of us over the last year.” in their performance objectives. floor, and mental health problems are
At the same time, the civil service “It’s important that Permanent being discussed in a way that would
needs to identify and meet the needs Secretaries and Chief Executives lead have been unthinkable a generation
of staff who are at a higher risk of by example, and consider how they can ago. MIND’s Faye McGuinness, who
developing mental health problems be held accountable for the wellbeing of has monthly meetings with civil service
because of the nature of their work; these their staff,” says McGuinness. “Having leaders to monitor progress, says: “We
may include “mainstream” civil servants performance objectives relating to know there is a long way to go, and that
like Jillian Kay’s MHCLG staff, as well change doesn’t happen overnight. But
as more obvious candidates like people it’s positive that Government – and in
working for the security services or the turn, civil service employers – have
National Crime Agency.
Maybe more accepted all the recommendations
“Departments are being supported managers are from the review and see the value in
centrally to identify teams where there implementing them.”
may be a higher risk of stress and
willing to have For Duncan, the big challenge is
trauma, [and] to in turn identify tools supportive ending the culture of silence around
and best practice to help all departments conversations now, mental health, and that takes time: “In
address these issues,” explains Jonathan the end, it’s not about what support
Jones. “Because the support may vary but not enough to programmes there are, but whether
according to the types of work, it’s right change how people people have trust and confidence to use
that departments lead this work as them. I don’t think we’re quite there yet,”
they’re closer to the detail.” feel." he says.
AFTER
THE
FALL
T
he hastily-scrawled graffiti critics of public sector outsourcing, and the government’s “Strategic Suppliers”,
on the building site fence led to renewed questions about how the with a designated Cabinet Office official
said it all: ‘Carillion. Bust’. government manages its contractual tasked with monitoring the firm’s
At the start of this year, relationship with private firms. performance.
43,000 employees awoke The firm was one of the biggest
to the devastating news suppliers to the UK public sector, Warning signs
that the construction giant had gone responsible for 450 government contracts MPs demanded to know why key warning
into liquidation, putting at risk their covering everything from maintaining signs – increasingly late payments to
livelihoods and raising major questions accommodation for members of the suppliers, a major profit warning in
about how and why their employer had armed services to constructing key parts July 2017 – were missed by government,
been allowed to fail so spectacularly. of the High Speed 2 rail link. Carillion which continued to award contracts to
Workers on the company's construction provided catering for schools, looked Carillion almost to the end. Ministers
sites reported being sent home that same after hospital buildings for more than a have fast-tracked the Official Receiver’s
day and, as PSM went to press, more than dozen NHS trusts, and managed prisons own probe into the causes of Carillion’s
1,400 former Carillion employees had for the Ministry of Justice. It was deemed failure. And opposition leader Jeremy
been laid off. so important that it was named as one of Corbyn has called for an end to what he
Already the blame game has started, called the public sector “outsourcing
and those arguing for an overhaul of racket”. So what is the state of play in
Britain's corporate governance laws the UK outsourcing market – and where
have a new case study to point to. When These are the should officials turn their gaze as they try
it collapsed, Carillion had one of the people negotiating to learn from Carillion’s demise?
largest pension deficits of any FTSE 350 massive, multi-billion Professor Colin Talbot of Cambridge
company, and was mired in debt – owing pound contracts. It’s like University has long studied civil service
around £2bn to its suppliers alone. fielding Ronaldo against procurement practices and has advised
But beyond the personally traumatic organisations bidding for public sector
tales of lost jobs, unpaid bills and a player from Stroud.” contracts. He tells PSM that, while
pensions at risk, Carillion’s collapse has Kerry Hallard, Global Sourcing officials may have feared the worst for
strengthened the hand of long-standing Association Carillion, the sheer size of such firms
Austerity procurement
Hallard also argues that years of
“austerity procurement”, with an
excessive focus on driving down costs
rather than long-term thinking about the
quality of services, means that Whitehall
is all too often “shopping as opposed to
entering into a collaborative arrangement
that focuses on the end goal”. She calls
for a more “grown up” conversation
between public and private sector, and
says civil servants and ministers “need to
accept that the service provider needs to
– and must – make a profit from the work
that they do. If not, why would they be
in it?”
But are civil servants not right to be
cautious following the string of high-
profile outsourcing failures in recent
years – such as the bungled security
arrangements at the 2012 Olympics and
last year’s early termination of the East
Coast mainline rail franchise, to name
but two? Hallard accepts that some parts
means public intervention can be highly smaller firms for bidding for contracts. of the industry need to change their
risky. Firms like Carillion are “publicly “Clearly that favours organisations behaviour, but says the public sector
listed companies who are heavily reliant that have expert teams that are used to needs to ditch “an ingrained mentality”
on borrowing to keep them going,” he bidding day in, day out and for whom which refuses “to accept the way that the
says. “If you do anything that makes it that’s the only thing that they do,” he private sector works”.
clear they’re in trouble, you’re likely to tells PSM. “I think there is over-compliance and
trigger exactly the sort of problem you’re That’s a view echoed by Kerry Hallard, a massive fear factor all the time about
trying to avoid”. chief executive of the Global Sourcing getting things wrong. That happens in
Talbot does believe that ministers’ Association, which represents specialist the private sector as well as in the public
tendency to see outsourcing as the suppliers in areas such as IT and digital. sector. But more than anything, I think
solution to a whole series of public policy She warns that the sheer time and energy there is just a tribal sort of mentality of
challenges – often for purely ideological involved in bidding for public sector ‘I’m the customer, therefore I’m always
reasons – has resulted in a marketplace contracts means the industry is “entering right. You’re the service provider and
dominated by big players who have into a fairly monopolistic position with you’ve just got to do it’. That’s not
moved far beyond their original areas of the really big players”. She points the what a collaborative, forward-thinking
expertise. “Their core skill has become finger at EU public procurement rules, partnership should look like.”
bidding for contracts with government,
not doing whatever it is they were Skilling up in Whitehall
supposed to be doing,” he says. “You end Senior officials have robustly defended
up with Carillion – basically a building Their core skill has the Cabinet Office’s relationship with
company – doing things like serving become bidding for Carillion, claiming that the civil service
school meals.” contracts with has never been as well-placed as it is now
Nick Davies keeps a close eye on the to weather such a storm.
government’s handling of commercial
government, not doing Civil service chief executive John
contracts as associate director of the whatever it is they were Manzoni has pointed out that many of
Institute for Government think tank. He supposed to be doing” Carillion’s contracts were run as joint
warns that the bidding process, which Prof Colin Talbot ventures at government insistence,
can run to “thousands of pages”, deters meaning that fellow suppliers could
“ Broken, divisive
and demotivating”
The latest FDA survey of members in the senior civil service
gives a decisive thumbs-down to the pay system. Tommy
Newell looks at the results and explains how they shaped
the union’s evidence to the pay review body.
O
nly 4% of senior civil five years ago,” explains one member. The Government’s own proposals
service (SCS) members “Erosion from pension contributions, include shorter pay ranges to
believe the current higher tax, little or no consolidated be determined by profession; a
reward framework is fit increase in pay and a far longer and commitment that the bulk of SCS 1
for purpose and more costlier commute, have led to me looking staff will earn a minimum of £70,000
than two-thirds have outside the civil service for jobs.” by 2020-21; and further restrictions on
seriously considered leaving the civil Another member comments: “The pay rises for promoted or transferring
service in the last year, according to current pay and reward system is broken, SCS staff. The government also wants
the findings of the latest FDA survey, divisive and demotivating. Pay is poor to restrict awards for people above the
conducted in December and January. and my frustrations have increased to proposed new pay ranges or those not
Only 8% of the 457 respondents are the point I have successfully found a role classed as “high performers”.
satisfied with overall pay arrangements, outside.” FDA Assistant General Secretary
with pay progression highlighted as a The higher salaries often offered Naomi Cooke branded the
particular bugbear: 92% of respondents to external applicants were also a Government’s proposals an act of
say they are not satisfied with the pace at major cause of disillusionment among “political cowardice” which offered
which they are progressing through their respondents. “I’m getting really fed only “vague long-term commitments”
pay band. up with being taken for granted,” instead of meaningful reform. While
One member explained: “The lack one member explains, “and I see acknowledging there were “some
of pay rises is depressing enough, after external advertisement after external positive moves on flexibility with non-
almost a decade, but the lack of ANY advertisement for jobs at my grade consolidated awards”, it was “too little
progression rubs salt in the wound.” offering a salary level which will never in terms or reform, and too meagre in
The survey findings suggest lack be a reality for me… Why wouldn’t I terms of funding,” Cooke said.
of progression is leading to other leave?” She added: “Far from an evidence-
problems in the pay system, with 36% The survey highlights the widespread led workforce pay strategy, slavish
of respondents saying they are paid less view that pay prospects are better adherence to a rigid cost envelope
than people they are managing on a outside the civil service, with 92% of reflects the exact same approach
lower grade, and only 14% seeing a clear respondents saying they believe they adopted for most of the last decade. The
link between their performance and their are paid less than people doing similar fact that not one more penny has been
pay. jobs in the private sector. Yet, of those of allocated means the 1% pay cap has
those who want to leave the civil service, been scrapped in name only, and our
Looking elsewhere only 40% say that they wanted a private members will once again fail to see a
68% of respondents have seriously sector job. meaningful rise in their pay.
considered leaving the civil service in “This grudging approach speaks
the last 12 months and 24% say they Over to the review body volumes as to the lack of urgency and the
want to leave as soon as possible; many The FDA used the survey to prepare its lack of regard the Government has for its
members cite frustration with pay as a joint submission – with civil service own staff.”
key factor. union Prospect – to the Senior Salary
“Despite being promoted into the SCS Review body (SSRB) in January. It makes
and getting a top box [marking] in four the case for “fundamental reform to the The FDA will keep members fully
of the last five years I now earn less per SCS pay framework” and a real-terms informed about the SSRB’s report, which
hour worked in real terms than I did pay increase for all members of the SCS. we expect to be published in June.
by Richard Askwith
Biteback, 128pp, £10.00
Richard Askwith’s punchy between the public’s expectations doesn’t make them any less true. So, too,
polemic opens with a and the performance of Parliament. with his observation that there has been
depiction of Westminster He discusses at some length how the no effective attempt to realign the way
– the building and, by our increasing access to information Parliament works with this new reality.
extension, the whole and misinformation impacts on the Askwith’s most eye-catching proposal
institution – as redolent political system. While limited access is that the House of Lords should be
of decay, decrepitude and despair. He to information might not have exactly replaced by a randomly-selected People’s
writes: “Even the MPs look worn out, made MPs’ lives blissful in the past, it Chamber. The approach he suggests
going through the motions of ill-attended did enable them to assume that their is: “Everyone eligible to vote is also
debates as listlessly as zoo animals. It is policy decisions were unlikely to be eligible for selection by lot to serve… for
hard to believe that these pasty, fretful, challenged by those outside the charmed a fixed term of, say, four years. Service is
well-tailored creatures… belong to the Westminster circle. compulsory, well-paid and prestigious.
same species as the multi-coloured… At times, Askwith’s comments on the The People’s Peers can wear ermine and,
restlessly modern crowds outside”. The impact of social media on politics feel if they want, use titles.”
whole impression is rather more Poe like statements of the obvious, but that This is, by Askwith’s own admission,
than Pugin, but this is perhaps to be blue sky thinking. However, overall
expected of a volume in a series entitled the book offers a timely exploration of
‘Provocations’, which also includes works It’s hard to believe MPs an issue which needs to be tackled if
entitled The Myth of Meritocracy and The belong to the same democracy is to keep pace with the times.
War on the Young. species as the multi-coloured,
Askwith’s target is the mismatch modern crowds outside Reviewed by Anne Grikitis
Biteback, 144pp, £10 Harper Collins, 592pp, £9.99 (paperback) Biteback, 192pp, £12.99
Switching sides after his Following All Out War, his Leaving aside the oft-
last provocation, The War 2016 warts-and-all guide discussed question of
On The Old, which lamented to the Brexit referendum, what went wrong for the
shockingly poor dementia the Sunday Times political Tories in 2017, Awan-Scully
care and a smouldering supremo Tim Shipman probes the increasingly
social care crisis, 79-year has pulled it off again, disconnected nature of
old Sutherland casts his “rheumy eye” bridging the gap from David Cameron’s politics across the UK’s four nations –
at intergenerational conflict from the resignation to the fallout from Theresa never more apparent than during last
side of the young. Sutherland is witty May’s disastrous snap election. As year’s general election. Voters and
and often outraged as he outlines before, it’s tightly focused on the parties in Northern Ireland have long
the financial crisis now plaguing a Westminster bubble, with some choice recognised the separation between
generation: student debt “scalpelled anecdotes about May’s leather trousers, local politics and the politics of mainland
from the pay packet before the recipient David Davis and Boris Johnson’s spat Britain, and Awan-Scully offers a robust
even sees it”, the “one-in-a-million over a grace-and-favour country pile, argument that a “different kind of
lottery ticket” of home ownership, and and a hearty dose of four-letter words nationalism” is now fuelling the divide
the shift towards a low-wage, insecure too choice for PSM (largely attributed between England, Scotland and Wales.
gig economy. Avoiding sneering to May’s now-departed special adviser Arguing that the House of Commons
condescension about millennials “glued Fiona Hill). Even if some of the juicy ‘increasingly resembles the European
to their phones”, Sutherland argues conversations recounted word-for-word Parliament’ may verge on hyperbole,
that, if the older generation has not seem suspiciously one-sided, Shipman but Awan-Scully offers an interesting
explicitly drawn up policy to suck is enviably well-sourced, and future but ominous view of how the national
wealth from the young, it has certainly historians will no doubt pore over this question in British politics could shape
sat back and been happy to benefit from first draft as they try to work out how the future of a much less ‘United’
it. we got ourselves in this mess. Kingdom.
How to book an ad
To book your free advert in the next issue of Public Service
Magazine, email psm@fda.org.uk with your text of up to 50 words
by Friday 15 June 2018. Put “PSM classifieds” as the subject,
include your membership number and we’ll take care of the rest.
Please remember to rebook your ad for each issue.
Audio version
To receive an audio version of the magazine,
please contact Tommy Newell at
tommy@fda.org.uk or on
020 7401 5588.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
L A M O N T R O B E S O N
8
A A E L O A E A
9 10
R I E R C T A
30 31 32 C A J O R A M
V L V W D R P E
11 12
A G E L E S S H E A L E Y
33 O C O O N
13
W
14 15 16 17
H E D G E N E G L E C T E R
O L N S O
18 19 20 21 22
W O B B L E R S S T R E W N
23
E A H C I T G
24 25 26
C L A R K E H A M M O N D
The first two lines of a poem (19 words) are to appear in the clockwise perimeter
A
27
F starting
A I at
I cell
A 17U O
clued entries which can be arranged to form the poet's full name (18 letters inB total).
I U G S A O D N
30 31
A R B E R L A R D I N G
ACROSS DOWN
The thematic items (in bold italics) are the last and present twelve Chancellors of the Exchequer.
OSBORNE, MAJOR and DARLING are clued as anagrams (highlighted).
Public
PublicService
ServiceMagazine
MagazineSpring
Spring 2018 29
2019: Celebrating
100 years of
the FDA
FDA President Gareth Hills outlines
plans for the FDA’s centenary
celebrations next year, and asks for
your help in bringing the story of the
union’s first 100 years to life.
W
e all love a celebration – birth-
days, religious festivals, New
Year, anniversaries, the list is
long and diverse. And next year the FDA
has its own special anniversary to
celebrate – 2019 marks our centenary as a
union.
The history of our first hundred years is
rich with events, people and stories that
we can all be rightly proud of. Last
summer, the FDA’s Executive Committee
agreed that a working group should be
established to commence planning for our
centenary. It’s a small group, but one that’s
lucky to benefit from the many talents
and vast experience of past President and
current FDA Trustee, Sue Jarvis. I’m sure We want to tell the FDA’s stories of the unsung heroes of the FDA,
many of you will know Sue and will story through its key of local activity that has made a real
recognise how fortunate we are to have people – the founding difference, and the campaigns that have
her involved. members, the first woman to inspired you. Tell us about what the union
The group has already started planning lead the union, and the people has done to help you, and what you’ve
events and activities to mark the who took part in the strikes in done to help the union and your fellow
centenary. We want to celebrate the FDA’s the late 1970s members. It would be great to hear lots of
contribution to the working lives of its success stories, but I’d also love to hear
members and the union’s achievements development of the union. Ideally, we about the characters you’ve met through
during its 100-year existence. want to tell the FDA’s story through the the union – we’re looking for humorous as
We’ll be looking at the ways the FDA has stories of key people in the union’s history, well as serious stories!
promoted the interests of senior staff in such as four founding members, the first We will be announcing the centenary
the civil service and given them a voice. women to lead the FDA, those who took plans later in the year, including details of
We want to highlight how the FDA speaks part in industrial action in the late 70’s, the events that will be taking place and
up for civil servants, who cannot publicly and many others. More work needs to be how we will make sure that the
defend themselves, and keeps making the done on this and on identifying other celebrations are representative of the
case for the impartiality and professional- significant individuals and events in our diversity of our membership across the
ism of people in public service. We also history. The group has already identified a nations and regions of the UK. Our
want to showcase how the FDA’s number of key people who, we believe, planned celebrations will be made all the
distinctive voice has influenced and will be able to assist us in our work. better by having your authentic stories. I’d
helped to promote wider trade union The history of the FDA is the collective encourage you all to put your thinking
interests and values. history of all our members, past and caps on and get in touch with us.
Initial activity is focused on researching present, so we would love to hear from
FDA history and identifying the people you and get your help in bringing the You can share your story by emailing us
who have contributed significantly to the union’s story to life. Let us have your at info@fda.org.uk.
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