20.12.12
Civil service transparency push
Whitehall should recruit more senior staff from the private sector, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has suggested.
All permanent secretaries will be subject to two reviews each year, with formal input from ministers on their performance, and their individual objectives have been published.
The move will increase transparency about performance and link performance with pay. However, reports on meeting objectives will not be published.
Information on permanent secretaries’ operational and commercial experience has also been published, showing that just over a quarter had high levels of this experience before their appointment.
Maude aims to ensure half of new appointments will have at least two years of operational and commercial experience, and proposed that more senior civil servants should be recruited from the private sector.
He said: “I don't think there is any deep-seated principle that if a minister is given a choice that in some way imperils it being fair and open appointment on the basis of merit.”
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