16 June 2006
A former permanent secretary this week called for Whitehall's performance assessments to be quickly handed over to an external regulator once the new frameworks become embedded.
Sir Michael Bichard, formerly the top civil servant at the Department for Education and Employment, told Public Finance that Whitehall would benefit 'hugely' if the fledgling Departmental Capability Reviews (DCRs) were undertaken by one of the four inspectorates that will emerge from the government's watchdog rationalisation programme.
'It would be the obvious extension of the process,' Bichard said. 'External accountability is continually used by the government to assess other public services, so I see no reason why DCRs should not be handed over to an inspectorate that is independent of Whitehall.'
Although supportive of the DCR process, Bichard has long held 'fundamental reservations' about the transparency of the reviews.
DCRs were set up by Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell last year to assess and improve the corporate and delivery functions of Whitehall departments, and have been compared to local government's successful Comprehensive Performance Assessments. A poor assessment will lead to performance improvement plans – agreed by permanent secretaries and O'Donnell – being imposed on 'failing' departments.
However, many Whitehall experts have warned that the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit, formally in charge of the process, should hand over responsibility for the assessments in order to avoid accusations that they are simply an internal 'back-slapping' exercise.
The first four reviews – for the under-fire Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions, as well the departments for Constitutional Affairs and Education and Skills – are due to be published before the parliamentary recess.
One senior Whitehall source told PF that the Home Office's DCR might have been 'compromised' by Home Secretary John Reid's recent claims that parts of the department were 'not fit for purpose'.
Some civil servants are concerned that the DCR team must now draw the same conclusions as Reid, 'or risk being viewed as covering up the extent of problems at the Home Office', the source said.
But Bichard said such concerns were irrelevant. 'I assume, from speaking to the people who are undertaking the DCRs, that they are professional and robust enough to come to their own conclusions. The home secretary must be allowed to make the statements that he did,' he said.
Further questions about the degree of external scrutiny over Whitehall's performance were raised this week, after the Institute for Public Policy Research think-tank obtained the results of a Whitehall survey under the Freedom of Information Act.
According to the study, less than 25% of civil servants think that poor performance is dealt with effectively across departments. Only the Treasury (32%) achieved an employee confidence level higher than 25%. In some departments – including the Department for Transport (5%) and Home Office (6%) – less than one in ten civil servants believes that poor performance is dealt with effectively.
Worryingly for the DCR process, which will indicate how well departments manage government reforms, the study showed that less than a third of civil servants believe senior staff 'manage change effectively'.
Union angered by public sector's exclusion from jobs fund
Civil servants have criticised the Department for Work and Pensions' insistence that a new fund set up to support local employment programmes must be distributed to private or voluntary sector partners.
The Public and Commercial Services trade union, which represents junior and middle-grade Whitehall staff, said the decision to restrict the way that JobcentrePlus can use the new Deprived Areas Fund was 'disgraceful'. The union said the move had effectively removed key employment services from the public sector.
Following advice from former welfare minister Margaret Hodge, senior DWP officials have insisted that the DAF, which will fund employment programmes across the 1,043 council wards with the highest unemployment rates nationally, must be spent on buying services provided by JobcentrePlus's private and voluntary sector partners.
JobcentrePlus district managers will receive additional cash to increase local employment, but the agency cannot provide the support services directly.
The DAF forms part of the government's plan to increase the use of private and voluntary sector partners to deliver welfare and employment programmes – proposals outlined in the welfare reform green paper earlier this year.
The initiative replaces JobcentrePlus's Action Team for Jobs programme which, despite successfully raising employment rates in deprived areas, has been scrapped. Around 600 DWP staff were employed on that programme, although the department insists that many will be redeployed to other frontline services.
A DWP source said the private and voluntary sector services provided through DAF would 'ensure that the department gets value for money from its employment programmes – and allow flexible service providers to innovate in order to find solutions to local employment problems'.
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