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Civil Service Commissioners’ Annual Report - First results from survey on Civil Service Code

News Release issued by the Government News Network on 16 July 2009

The Civil Service Commissioners today published their online annual report for 2008-09.

The report gives the results of the Commissioner’s new audit of all government departments’ processes for ensuring that their civil servants are aware of the Civil Service Code and understand where to turn if they have concerns they would like to raise under the Code.

Janet Paraskeva, First Civil Service Commissioner, said:

“The Civil Service Code sets out the values that are expected of every civil servant – honesty, objectivity, impartiality, integrity - and is the cornerstone of our civil service.

“From our audit it is clear that as well as a number of examples of good practice, there are areas where departments have work to do before they reach the level of the best. For example, more than 30% of departments have a policy for upholding the Code that has not been reviewed since the Civil Service Code was revised in 2006. Board leadership in this area was also not as strong as we would expect and more needs to be done to train and support the nominated officers in departments who are there to help staff who want to raise a concern under the Code.

“We will be giving departments a more detailed analysis with examples of good practice and suggestions for improvement but we urge departments to start now on a critical self assessment of their performance in promoting the values in the Code. “

Ms Paraskeva continued:

“Last year, the Commissioners, like so many others, warmly welcomed the government’s intention to enshrine the core values of the Civil Service in legislation and to put the Commissioners on a statutory footing. However, despite considerable public focus on constitutional issues, legislation on the Civil Service has not yet been introduced to Parliament.

We therefore welcome the confirmation in the Government’s draft legislative programme, published at the end of June 2009, that the Constitutional Renewal Bill is intended for introduction before the end of the current Parliamentary session.”

The report also details the work of the Commissioners in regulating appointments to the Civil Service and hearing appeals under the Civil Service Code. The report contains a range of statistics on appointments to the civil service including:

* 98 appointments to the Senior Civil Service that required Commissioner approval compared to 104 last year.

* An increase this year in the number of successful candidates in open competitions who were existing civil servants. The percentage of successful candidates who were civil servants was 63%. Last year the figure was 41%.

* An increase in the percentage of successful candidates who are female. Of the successful candidates appointed through open competitions, 35% were women. Last year the figure was 24%.

Notes to Editors

1. Media enquiries about the work of the Commissioners should go to Maggie O’Boyle on 07880 740 627.

2. Further information about the work of the Civil Service Commissioners is available at www.civilservicecommissioners.or g

3. 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.

4. Civil Service Commissioners are appointed by the Crown under the Royal Prerogative. There are currently 16 (part-time) Commissioners, who were recruited following open competition. Janet Paraskeva is the senior Commissioner, known as the First Commissioner.