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Roula Khalaf, editor of FT, chooses her favorite story in this weekly newsletter.
The writer is an unspoken director in the British Health and Social Welfare Department
It’s not a chainsaw. Even while Sir Keir Starmer promised to transform the state this week, his secretary of science promised to hire 2,000 data experts. The Government will approach the more gentle approach to public service reforms in the UK from Argentine President Javier Milei or Consigliere Donald Trump, Elon Musk.
That’s good. In Washington, the movement of the quickly and breaking things exposed some terrible examples of federal waste. But he also forced a settlement of talented people from a system that will eventually have to improve. For the late Ronald Reagan, the nine of the most terrible words in English were “I am from the Government and I am here to help.” In today’s America, they could be, “Don’t call the government for help: no one is there.”
Prime Minister and Pat McFadden, the executor of the cabinet office, predict that he took more scalpel into what Starmer called “Flabby” and “unfocused” states. They want to make the civil service more react, remove some quangos and reduce the cost of compliance for business. But they should not underestimate the battle before us.
Starmer’s words echoed with those of his predecessor Tony Blair in 2004, former Tory Francisco Ministers in 2010 and Michael beef in 2020. All three, in turn, directed Fulton’s 1968 report, which criticized the dominance of generalists, ranks of officials from publication and excessive closed culture. None of this has changed.
The current system does not suit anyone. For the past two decades, the brain of the Whitehall Talent Drain. Great, talented officials leave frustration because of their inability to achieve things. Everyone says the same thing: that the civil service should be much smaller but better paid; that he should focus more on delivery than the procedure; It is a performance management rude; And to miss the possibilities for improvement of procurement, using data and helping investors. Yes, some ministers are awful, and post-Brexit chaos has not helped. But the fundamental question is what the system has become bigger than people in it.
Multiplication and inertia have grown, while the staff numbers have achieved record high. In her examination 2023, Maude described the absurd situation in which the central body was set up to maximize government purchasing power included in less than half of £ 42 billion spent on usual goods and services. He now has a sales power of 60 people, trying to convince the government subjects to use it.
Things do not help the tendency to be outsourcing, which Starmer described as “a response to the knees to heavy questions..[You]Create an agency, start consulting. . . have an overview. . . Almost concealed, democratic responsibility is swallowed under the regulatory carpet. “Decision yes abolish NHS England He will return the functions to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, which was picked up in 2012, in an attempt to depoliticize the health care service.
One of the big problems is that when it comes to the daily functioning of Whitehall, no one has the authority to lead reforms. As Lord David Sainsbury, founder of the Government Institute (IFG), said: “The reason why the Government’s activities are often not joined is that it is not a job of joining him.” A permanent, political impartial civil service that can cause ministers is extremely valuable. But the unspoken belief that only the caste of Mandarin had national interest in the heart became a way to avoid reforms. Canada, Australia and New Zealand show that it is perfectly possible to maintain independence, while the ministers give more to the meetings.
Part of the answer, recommended by most experts and IFG,
It is employed, from the outside, the head of the civil service to supervise the reform, the redistribution of talents’ assessment and management. Although this could sound directly, a consecutive secretary of the cabinet – including the late Sir Jeremy Heywood – they struggled about an attempt to separate their role from this official function. No cabinet secretary has time or desire to actually manage the state service. But they don’t want a rival either. The IFG also recommends regular compulsive circles of redundancy, to move on bad performers, retaining talent.
Starmer claims that the Labor can achieve what Tories are not, in part because he wants an “active government”, not a “weak state.” It is possible that the Government of Labor may consider unions more prepared to cooperate. But it remains to be seen what the Prime Minister really means when he talks about the state “overburdened” and working too much. He abolished one Quango, but plans to create more than 20 others. At the same time, many actual proposals passing through parliament are trying to expand the reach of the state, not limit it.
This government is still a push-me-pull-you: an eloquent conversation about simplification and business, at the same time by legislation for greater complexity. The Law on Rentine Rights, as it was made, will load so many complications to the renters that those who are not sold in despair are likely to have to pay for the management agent just to be in accordance with. The proposal of the Law on Employment Rights will convert British employment into freezing, making even more difficult to remove bad performers.
Maybe Starmer did not have the opportunity to read the legislation that proposes even more types of choking of the regulations he claims to hate. But there is still time.
