§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether he will publish the report on the civil service fast stream entry.
§ Mr. WaldegraveAs I announced on 18 February, the team reviewing the civil service fast stream entry, as recommended by the career management and succession planning study, was asked to report by the end of June 1994. Its report will be published today. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.
The review team's report reaches five main conclusions:
the fast-stream schemes make an essential contribution to meeting Departments' needs for high quality recruits; but Departments need to update and clarify what they expect from, and offer to, recruits to the main generalist fast-stream scheme for the Home Civil Service, and how that relates to the training and development of staff recruited by other routes; the way the Service is presented to potential recruits needs to be improved to reflect more accurately the nature of the Civil Service in the late 1990s and to strengthen and broaden its appeal;the selection process itself, although already well researched, should be subject to indpendent audit to ensure that it operates effectively;there needs to be a clearer distinction between the recruitment schemes and the later distinct process of indentifying people with top management potential. The term "fast-stream" confuses the two and should be abandoned.The Government will now consider these recommendations and would welcome comments on them in the context of the White Paper on the civil service, which is being published today, and in accordance with the procedure set out in paragraph 1.8 of that paper.
§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he will publish the report of the review team which has been considering the respective responsibilities of the Civil Service Commissioners and Government Departments.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe head of the home civil service commissioned in January an internal review of responsibilities for civil service recruitment, with the following terms of reference
In the light of experience in practice and increasing open competition for posts to re-examine the specific split of responsibilities made between the Commissioners, the Recruitment and Assessment Services Agency and departments in 1991 by, in particular:
- —considering whether changes are required to improve effectiveness;
- —identifying any issues here which affect RAS's performance;
- —reviewing the definition of Commissioners' recruitment."
The review team has now completed its work. Copies of its report, entitled "Responsibilities for Civil Service Recruitment", have been placed in the Library of the House. The review team has made a number of 596W recommendations designed to reinforce the principles of openness, fairness and merit in civil service recruitment and to clarify responsibilities for ensuring that these principles are properly and effectively applied. The main proposals are that:
The Civil Service Commissioners should be given strengthened powers to maintain the principles of fair and open competition and selection on merit as they apply to all Civil Service recruitment.Departments and Agencies should be more clearly accountable for undertaking recruitment in accordance with those principles.The Commissioners should audit recruitment policies and practices within the Service and report on the outcome in their annual reports.The Commissioners should be required to approve individually only the most senior appointments, removing the present requirement for them to process around 700 cases a year in more junior grades. The Government proposes that the Commissioners' approval should be required for recruitment to the new Senior Civil Service as envisaged in the White Paper on the Civil Service.There should be a clear separation between the role of the Commissioners and that of the Recruitment and Assessment Services Agency.The Government welcome the review team's report and would also welcome comments on it. These should be addressed to Miss E. Goodison, the Office of the Civil Service Commissioners, Alencon Link, Basingstoke RG21 1JB and should be received by 30 September 1994. Copies of the report can be obtained free of charge from the same address.
§ Sir Nicholas BonsorTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the Government's response to the efficiency unit's report on "Career Management and Succession Planning in the Civil Service".
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe statement I made to the House today and the accompanying White Paper on the civil service set out the main lines of the Government's response to the efficiency unit report, and build further upon it. I am placing in the Library of the House today a note of the detailed response to each of the report's recommendations.