The man charged with leading reform of the United Kingdom Public Service says it is not viewed by the public as good at delivering major projects on time and to budget.
Alex Chisholm (pictured) said his priorities would include diversifying the Public Service, fostering gender and racial diversity as well as cognitive, social and professional diversity.
The former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who took up his new position in March, Mr Chisholm said he wanted to see the Public Service “keep a hold of” some of the ways of working it had developed in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Bureaucratic reform has become a major area of wider political interest following the appointment of Dominic Cummings, a long-standing critic of the way Whitehall works, as Chief Adviser to Prime Mister, Boris Johnson last year.
Mr Cummings has previously said that the permanent Public Service is an idea for the history books, and has written a blog calling for “weirdos and misfits” to be appointed to help achieve true cognitive diversity.
Minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove said that while much of Mr Chisholm’s work in the medium term would necessarily be Coronavirus response-related, Whitehall reform would be among the other priorities.
Mr Chisholm said he took his responsibly to lead reforms very seriously.
“It is a change agenda, not a ‘carry on as we are’ agenda,” Mr Chisholm said.
“I want to boost delivery skills in a Civil Service that is rightly seen as being outstanding for its integrity and its level of commitment, but was pretty poor at delivering programs on time and to budget,” he said.
He said he also wanted to further professionalise the more traditional parts of the Public Service, such as policy and operational delivery.
“This will entail further strengthening of skills and methods, clarity about people’s roles, and clarity about the support that comes from the centre,” Mr Chisholm said.
London, 21 May 2020
