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Civil Service Commissioners publish online annual report

Civil Service Commissioners publish online annual report

CABINET OFFICE News Release issued by The Government News Network on 23 July 2007

Released by the Cabinet Office on behalf of the Civil Service Commissioners

INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONERS TO OVERSEE TOP 200 GOVERNMENT POSTS

Civil Service Commissioners will now regulate internal promotions as well as all external appointments within the top 200 Civil Service positions, Janet Paraskeva, the First Civil Service Commissioner, said today.

Publishing the Commissioners' annual report for 2006/07, produced for the first time online, Ms Paraskeva said:

"During the course of this year Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Head of the Home Civil Service, agreed that the internal process for promoting civil servants should be put on the same footing as that for external appointments. As independent regulators, we will now oversee all appointments within the top 200 positions -a move which began with the most senior appointments to the office of the new Prime Minister.

"Taken with the recent proposals to put the Civil Service on a statutory footing, this will strengthen public confidence in the impartiality of the civil service.

"Last year the Commissioners chaired a total of 90 external competitions and 9 internal competitions and saw some excellent and improving recruitment practice across government. We also identified three key areas where we believe further work is necessary:

"First, we found that salaries awarded to the successful candidates for the external competitions we chaired did not always match those advertised. In some cases, notably posts offered to external candidates from the private sector or wider public sector whose experience was seen as essential for the post, salaries were considerably in excess of those quoted. This differed markedly from the practice followed for the appointment of Civil Service candidates where it was not uncommon for salaries to be less than the advertised rate. This could challenge the principles of fairness, openness and merit and we shall be monitoring the position carefully in the future.

"Secondly, we note that, out of the 90 senior appointments made this year, only 24 (27%) of the successful candidates were women. Set against a backdrop of an overall increase in the numbers of women in the Civil Service, these figures are disappointing. We will be looking carefully at these patterns in the future.

"The third key area relates to our auditing work - compliance monitoring Departments' recruitment practice - where we found that the number of departments and agencies assessed as having a high risk of non-compliance with our Code went from 9 (8%) last year to 15 (14%) this year. Given the overall increase in risk, the Commissioners took a number of steps to encourage Departments to improve their recruitment processes."

The report also comments on appeals under the Civil Service Code, which is the other major role for Commissioners. The new Constitutional Reform Bill proposes putting civil service values on a legislative footing, which is something the Commissioners have argued for over many years.

The Commissioners' annual report which, for the first time, is published online as a dedicated microsite, available at http://www.cscannualreport.info. The report details the Commissioners' work throughout the year in regulating appointments to the Civil Service and hearing appeals under the Civil Service Code.

Notes to Editors
1. Further information about the work of the Civil Service Commissioners is available at http://www.civilservicecommissioners.gov.uk.

2. The Civil Service Commissioners are independent of Ministers and the Civil Service. They are responsible for maintaining the principle of recruitment to the Civil Service through selection on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. They also advise Departments on the promotion of the Civil Service Code and hear and determine appeals from civil servants under it.

3. Civil Service Commissioners are appointed by the Crown under the Royal Prerogative. There are currently 14 (part-time) Commissioners, who were recruited following open competition. Janet Paraskeva is the senior Commissioner, known as the First Commissioner.

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