§ Mr. John Townendasked the Minister for the Civil Service what progress has been made in extending unified grading in the Civil Service; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HayhoeOn 14 July I announced that one of our major priorities in the personnel field for this year was to extend unified grading arrangements in the senior levels of the Civil Service.
169WPay and grading structures can have a significant impact on efficiency because they affect the organisation of the work itself, as well as the way in which the skills and abilities of staff are deployed. At present, unified pay and grading arrangements apply only at very senior levels—the grades of Under Secretary and above—in what is known as the open structure. The Government now intend to rationalise and simplify the grading structure at the next levels by extending unified grading downwards to the Senior Principal grading level.
As a result, some 100 separate occupational grades, covering nearly 6,000 senior managerial staff, will be replaced by three unified grades. These will broadly equate to the Senior Principal and Assistant Secretary levels, and a level between Assistant and Under Secretary.
Unified grading removes occupational distinctions which can he artificial impediments to the deployment of staff at levels where managerial abilities and skills are often more important than the practice of particular specialisms. This will make it easier to move staff between jobs to develop talent and broaden experience, and so help to improve the efficiency of the Civil Service by helping to ensure that the best man or woman is selected for each job on merit. It is of particular importance that we have arrangements to make the best use of staff in a smaller Civil Service.
The preparatory work for this change has been carried forward sufficiently for me to be able to announce now that the new unified grading structure at these levels will be brought into effect from 1 January 1984. Consequential adjustments to aligh pay in the new unified grades will also take effect from that date, subject to transitional arrangements where appropriate. The cost will be met within existing public expenditure provisions.