A think-tank report supported by ministers calls for today’s urgent ban on Mandarins being allowed to give top Whitehall positions to their favorite people.
The Policy Exchange calls for major reforms to open up the ‘closed shop’ of senior civil service appointments.
The warning warns that not all posts are advertised to outsiders, and significant changes required more than 150 year ago still haven’t been implemented.
The study says the scandal over David Cameron’s banker boss Lex Greensill – who was given a Downing Street pass and a CBE by the head of the civil service at the time – raised serious questions about the power of ‘personal patronage’.
Last night Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay promised to study the report ‘carefully’.
Last night Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay promised to study the report ‘carefully’
He said: ‘We must ensure that all civil service appointments are on merit and ensure that we attract the best outside talent.’
In a foreword to the think-tank paper, former Treasury mandarin Lord Macpherson says the role of officials demands more scrutiny and ‘self-regulation has failed’. To protect against conflict of interests, he said that stronger powers were needed.
This paper explains that the Northcote Trevelyan Report of 1854, which established the principle of civil servants being selected on merit and open competition, is the foundation of the current practice.
However, its recommendations that internal promotions should not be allowed to proceed without a law were never implemented.
All senior civil servant roles should be publicly advertised, but officials can ignore such guidance.
Even the post of ‘programme director for civil service modernisation and reform’ was filled last year without any competition at all.
Aside from externally advertised appointments, there’s no independent oversight.
The study says the scandal over David Cameron’s banker boss Lex Greensill – who was given a Downing Street pass and a CBE by the head of the civil service at the time – raised serious questions about the power of ‘personal patronage’
It warns that many posts aren’t advertised to the outside world and significant changes which were requested more than 150 year ago still have not been made.
The Civil Service Commission watchdog has ‘no power to investigate internal competitions for vacancies’, which ‘arguably creates a powerful incentive for existing civil servants’ not to advertise prestigious posts.
Today’s report calls for this loophole to be closed, as well as demanding that all senior vacancies be advertised unless authorised by a Minister.
It says a recent constitution law should be amended to make it clear that the ‘merit principle’ applies to all Whitehall positions.
Report author Benjamin Barnard said: ‘The civil service is an international outlier in how some of its most senior members are appointed.
‘Too often it can operate like a closed shop, with far too little independent oversight or transparency and the top jobs in Whitehall being appointed without even being advertised to outsiders. The era of self-regulation looks outdated.’