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.