[ad_1]
The new analysis of government bills may well confirm the fears of Lord Agnew, the civil service minister who last week asked senior officials to stop “depriving our brightest [public servants] of opportunities to work on some of the most challenging, satisfying and crunchy topics. “
A former businessman and Brexiter who joined the government in February, his eyes will fall on the stark figures showing that the departments that are at the forefront of leaving the EU have become increasingly reliant on city specialists. well prepared they can charge up to £ 3,500 per day.
The statistics, which covered 11,000 government bills submitted as of April this year, do not take into account the additional problem for Whitehall of dealing with the many complications of Covid-19.
As The Guardian previously revealed, government departments have spent more than £ 56 million on consulting firms to help deal with the pandemic, mostly without giving other companies a chance to compete for work.
Brexit or Covid-related turmoil cannot be guaranteed to subside for at least six months and could continue for longer. So how could Agnew and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove force the government machine away from its reliance on management consultants and instead learn to love their employees?
Given Boris Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings’ stated mission to take on senior public officials, this may be a more difficult task than you first imagined.
Cummings has made no secret of his plans to shake up the Whitehall structures or challenge what he perceives as “groupthink” among public officials. In January, he went so far as to advocate for “misfits” with uncanny skills to apply for jobs.
And in the meantime, five top public officials, including Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, and four permanent secretaries, have left Whitehall this year, and their colleagues claim they were expelled.
A union representative said there was a contradiction in the faith that Agnew has expressed in the civil service and the obvious mistrust that Cummings has expressed.
“It is not surprising that the government has turned to management consultants because the civil service has been dealing with huge and complex changes due to Brexit and rapid changes in government. Support was needed, ”said Dave Penman, director of the FDA union representing public officials.
“But there seems to be a conflict in the statements that public officials have heard from Lord Agnew and those that have come from Cummings and his friends. Does the government trust the civil service or not? “
Some within the government believe that Lord Francis Maude, who reformed Whitehall under David Cameron, could be the one to come up with a plan to move away from reliance on consultants.
The minister in charge of the Cabinet Office between 2010-15 was asked to review the performance of the central department and its relationship with the rest of Whitehall due to concerns that the department has failed to cope with the coronavirus crisis.
A Whitehall source said the Cabinet Office would address issues related to the use of outside consultants, but disputed claims that Cummings had expressed hostility toward the civil service. “Dom recognizes and regularly upholds brilliance in civil service,” the source said.
