Ministerial turnover 'too high'

24 May 11
Regular ministerial reshuffles undermine the effectiveness of government, experts have warned
By Vivienne Russell

24 May 2011

Regular ministerial reshuffles undermine the effectiveness of government, experts have warned.

A report published today by the Institute for Government notes that there is a particularly high turnover of ministers in the UK, with most getting just two years to get to grips with their responsibilities and prove themselves in the job.

Report co-author Peter Riddell said: ‘Excessive turnover can reduce a minister’s capacity to build up the expertise and experience required. David Cameron seems to have less enthusiasm for shuffling the deck, having stated that he’s not a believer in endlessly moving people between different jobs for its own sake. We’d encourage him to maintain that position.’

Riddell pointed out that, the UK has had 35 business ministers since 1949 whereas Germany has had only 15.

More than 50 individuals, including current and former ministers and civil servants, were interviewed for the report, The challenge of being a minister. It made 14 recommendations for how ministerial performance could be improved.

These included: a more rigorous allocation of ministerial portfolios, matching the needs of a post to the competencies of an individuals; regular appraisals or performance reviews for ministers; and widening the pool from which ministers are drawn beyond members of the House of Commons. Opposition parties should also do more to familiarise their shadow teams with how government works.

In his foreword to the report, institute director Andrew Adonis noted that the best preparation for ministerial office was to work as a special adviser.

‘Far from decrying the reign of ex-SpAds – David Cameron, George Osborne, Ed Miliband, Ed Balls et al – we should welcome the fact that at least some ministers come to office with an apprenticeship worth the name, beyond service in the House of Commons.’

Ministers singled out as being particularly effective include David Blunkett and Michael Heseltine, who held various positions under respectively Tony Blair’s New Labour government and the Conservative government in the 1980s and 1990s. Heseltine is praised because he had a clear vision about what he wanted to achieve and delegated effectively to junior ministers and civil servants.

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