A new analysis has found that almost half of the United Kingdom Public Service cuts imposed over more than 10 years of Coalition and Conservative Governments have been reversed.
This is a result of a recruitment surge last year to help the Public Service cope with the COVID-19 crisis, the analysis, by the Institute for Government, states.
Nearly 10,000 recruits joined the UK Public Service between December 2019 and September 2020, bringing the total headcount to 430,750, the think tank’s report found.
The report, which analysed staffing changes from the fourth quarter of 2019-2020 to the third quarter of 2020-2021, noted that in the third quarter of last year alone, staff numbers rose by 4,260.
The Ministry with the highest proportional headcount rise during 2020 was the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, its workforce is about 70 per cent dedicated to digital issues.
Despite this, the report noted that a frequently-cited problem with the Public Service persisted last year — a lack of science, digital, procurement and other skills.
These skills gaps, as well as constraints on capacity with the added workload of the exit from the European Union (Brexit) and the pandemic, meant the Government relied heavily on consultants and contractors.
It has spent more than £175 million ($A313 million) in this area during the pandemic, the report said.
Minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove said he wanted to bolster these skills and reduce consultancy spending as part of the Government’s reform of the Public Service.
However, the report noted that the pandemic had also slowed progress on these reform efforts.
It said there were now questions about whether the impetus for reform plans could be maintained following the departure of Dominic Cummings, the former top adviser to Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and the driving force behind the reforms.
London, 2 February 2021
