01 April 2005
Whitehall staff could become the biggest beneficiaries of the government's decision to rethink public sector pension proposals after being promised new talks on pay and job security.
A flood of correspondence between senior government staff and Whitehall trade unions last week, part of the government's successful attempt to prevent a national strike over pensions, promised 'meaningful dialogue' with civil service leaders.
As well as changes to retirement packages, Whitehall unions are battling pay disparities, compulsory redundancies and staff relocations.
Opposition to targets of 80,000 job cuts and 20,000 relocations is entrenched. Cabinet Office sources told Public Finance that ministers were seeking solutions that would temper union opposition to reforms without compromising efficiency targets.
A letter from Richie Furlong, director of employment at the Cabinet Office, to Charles Cochrane, secretary of the Council of Civil Service Unions, urges staff to 'grasp this opportunity for a fresh start and move towards the resolution of a range of issues at the heart of the original dispute in the civil service'.
Furlong commits to 'continuing the process we have begun to develop a more coherent pay system for the civil service'.
He adds: 'Similarly, the formal machinery we have established with the CCSU to seek to avoid compulsory redundancies and relocations is already demonstrating real benefit which we must maintain.'
But he stresses that 'real progress' on these issues must be accompanied by 'a resolution of the immediate difficulties we have … about the proposals to reform the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme.'
Ministers want to switch the PCSPS from a final to an average salary structure to cut costs, but unions see the changes as an attack on deferred pay.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, told PF that the government's additional commitments 'represent a positive step forward'. He was due to attend a pensions summit on March 31, chaired by Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson, to start negotiations.
At the meeting, Jonathan Baume, general secretary of the FDA, representing senior Whitehall staff, was expected to call for significant enhancements to mandarins' pensions.
But an FDA spokeswoman said Baume would not necessarily back a 'two-tier' civil service pension, an idea floated in a leaked letter from the Department for Work and Pensions' head of human resources, Kevin White.
Cabinet Office enhances checks on intelligence
The Cabinet Office unit dealing with security issues will be beefed up as part of the government's response to Lord Butler's report on intelligence failings over Iraq.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on March 23 that an overhaul of Britain's intelligence machinery was well under way following mistakes over the infamous dossier on Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction.
A senior Cabinet Office post, head of intelligence analysis, will be created to lead scrutiny of claims made by spies and advise on the intelligence community's analytical capacity, recruitment and training.
The Cabinet Office's 28-strong scrutiny team will also be expanded by a third. These reforms, Straw said, complement major changes at MI6 and other departments.
Under the new structure, the Cabinet Office will also have powers to challenge material submitted by intelligence staff, including the Joint Intelligence Committee. The JIC's dossier informed Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to enter into the Iraq conflict, but its content was heavily criticised by Lord Butler when he published his report on intelligence failings last summer.
A Cabinet Office document outlining the new structure states that the department 'will also co-ordinate regular assessments of countries at risk of instability, and regular papers highlighting significant threats or other issues likely to face the government in the coming year in the fields of security, defence and foreign affairs'.
Ministers and senior Whitehall staff will also be issued with a guide warning that 'intelligence seldom acquires the full story'.
Straw's statement was timely. A report by the Commons defence select committee, published on March 24, criticised Britain's failure to predict the consequences of invading Iraq.
Quality of accounts improves, says NAO
Whitehall departments have made good progress in meeting the challenge of resource accounting and improving the quality of the accounts submitted, a National Audit Office report has claimed.
In his report on government accounts for 2003/04, auditor general Sir John Bourn said he had been forced to qualify only four sets of accounts, compared with eight the previous year.
'The timely submission of accounts is still a problem for many departments, however,' he added.
'Fundamental to the success of faster closing is the recognition that producing accounts is not something which is left to the end of the year. Robust, accurate and timely financial information is pivotal to improved resource planning.
More than 80% of accounts had been submitted for audit by October 2004, and only two departments had failed to meet the statutory deadline, November 30, compared with 11 in 2002/03.
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