UK Inquiry Tracker

Civil Service Capability inquiry

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 17 Jan 2017 Closed: 4 Jan 2018 Parliament page

Plans to address gaps in the capability of the civil service are not keeping pace with the growth of the challenges the civil service faces, according to the National Audit Office . The NAO report that Government needs to prioritise its projects, activities and transformation programmes and stop work on … Read more Plans to address gaps in the capability of the civil service are not keeping pace with the growth of the challenges the civil service faces, according to the National Audit Office . The NAO report that Government needs to prioritise its projects, activities and transformation programmes and stop work on those projects it is not confident it has the capability to deliver. Government is asking the civil service to manage important reforms even though it has reduced in size by 26% since 2006 and with smaller budgets. At the same time there has been no reduction in the overall workload of the civil service, an increase in the number of infrastructure and capital projects, increasing demand for digital projects and the decision to leave the European Union. Responding to these challenges requires new skills, particularly in managing transformation. Departments know they do not have the specialist capability they need and are seeking more senior leaders with specialist expertise to achieve their objectives. They require greater strength in project planning, benefits realisation and contract management. Departments also report that they would need around 2,000 additional staff in digital roles within five years’ time, although those responsible for government’s digital skills believe this is an underestimate. Government is seeking to deliver a challenging portfolio of major projects, including Hinkley Point C, High Speed 2, and the Trident renewal. While the civil service has skilled people, many of these projects draw on the same pool of skills. For example, in rail projects such as Crossrail and Thameslink, skilled civil servants have performed a number of project roles or have been moved to fill skills gaps for new priorities or projects. Traditionally, government’s workforce planning has focused on the number of people in posts and tended to treat these as generic. As a result, it has not assessed the skills of the current workforce in a comparable or structured way. This means they do not know what skills they have, whether these are in the right place and what additional skills they need. Government has acknowledged that it needs to do more on workforce planning and has committed all departments to producing workforce plans by March 2017. The ten drafts that the National Audit Office has seen show considerable improvement on previous attempts, but remain focused on staff in post and contain only a high level view of how staffing requirements are likely to change. Show less