19 December 2003
Senior civil servants will be given training in commercial skills to improve the government's procurement record, a Whitehall report revealed this week.
In the latest move to improve efficiency, a joint report from the Cabinet Office's Regulatory Impact Unit and the Office of Government Commerce outlines five key areas for streamlining Whitehall's procurement and reducing its annual £13bn bill.
The report also commits departments to reaching 'milestones' over the next two years, and includes reducing the average time it takes to award a service contract by 25%. This has to be accomplished by March 2006.
Civil servants, accused in the report of having a 'rigid adherence to process', will see a change in training, while senior officials will receive specialist training in commercial skills to improve their leadership and capability.
By next April, departments must also come up with proposals to reduce their dependence on consultants, the costs of which have soared in recent years. They must also ensure that consultants are 'selected and managed effectively'.
To monitor the private sector, which has also had a less than perfect record in government contracts, the OGC will set out procedures for sharing 'supplier performance' information across departments. It is also proposing to set up 'bid conferences' for departments to outline their requirements and procurement routes with potential suppliers.
'Much of public service delivery depends on bought-in services, so effective procurement is at the heart of the government's delivery and reform agenda,' said Cabinet Office minister Douglas Alexander.
The report has been supported by the Confederation of British Industry.
It comes as Cabinet Secretary Sir Andrew Turnbull publicly attacked the targets culture and the proliferation of unnecessary red tape which goes with it.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Turnbull said: 'If you look at surveys of what people dislike most about working in the public sector, it certainly isn't pay that's number one. Almost always, bureaucracy and paperwork compliance are top of the list.
'We have relied heavily on that, and we do want to move away from it. Targets sometimes measure the wrong things. Sometimes they're vulnerable to game-playing.'
The Treasury and the Number 10 delivery unit are planning to slim down Whitehall targets to a small number of core aims for each department, he said.
Civil servant 'refused to sign' for £800m jet
The Commons Public Accounts Committee is to look into a decision by the top civil servant responsible for defence spending to refuse to sign the bill for an £800m RAF jet trainer until ordered to do so by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon.
Sir Kevin Tebbit, the permanent secretary at the MoD, resorted to seeking a 'ministerial direction' on the contract for the plane, built by BAE Systems – a rarely used procedure signifying serious disapproval.
Tebbit, responsible for the £35bn annual defence budget, apparently did not believe the contract for the trainer represented value for money. The MoD is also committed to a £2.7bn servicing contract over 25 years under the deal.
'We are very interested in this disclosure and will certainly be investigating it,' said PAC chair Edward Leigh. 'We have decided to have two hearings looking at Ministry of Defence spending.'
The Tebbit-Hoon clash, which has been reported to Leigh and Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, was uncovered after Hoon's letter ordering Tebbit to sign the deal was placed in the Commons library and then challenged by Vincent Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman.
Hoon wrote: 'I have considered carefully the points you have presented. An order for a new advanced variant of the successful Hawk trainer would support our high-technology aeronautical capability, including skilled jobs, and assist future exports of Hawk variants.'
North-South divide to be examined by inquiry
The Treasury Select Committee has launched an inquiry into the government's progress in closing the economic 'North-South divide'.
The committee, chaired by the Labour MP for Dumbarton, John McFall, will examine 'regional productivity' in the new year.
The inquiry will come at a crucial time for both the Treasury and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, both busy promoting regional agendas. The Treasury is pushing for a move toward regional pay bargaining while the ODPM is busy creating elected regional assemblies.
The committee, dominated by Labour MPs, will examine the reasons behind the North-South divide (or productivity differentials), suggesting that it will question the government's assumptions on regional skills gaps and inflexible labour markets.
Ministers' policy initiatives, including regional development agencies, venture capital funds and enterprise areas, will also come under scrutiny.
The committee will also see if these can be streamlined, to help close the productivity gap.
PFdec2003
