09 January 2004
A wide-ranging overhaul of the civil service in Scotland, including the recruitment of leading figures from business, is planned by First Minister Jack McConnell.
He is already working with John Elvidge, the recently appointed permanent secretary, to carry out what he has described as a 'massive programme of change in culture and attitudes' in the post-devolution civil service.
Reflecting on the role of former Scottish Office civil servants in the controversial Holyrood Parliament building deal, McConnell said in a newspaper interview that he was not in the business of running down people he had worked with in the past.
But he added: 'The civil service has to modernise and change to reflect the new circumstances we are in and the country we now are. The permanent secretary and I are working closely on this.
'There is going to be more secondment in and out of the service. There are going to be more people appointed from outside and there will be different ways of working for those who are there.'
He said that the changes were not directly linked to Lord Fraser's inquiry into the soaring costs of the Holyrood contract but were 'linked to the whole business of improving government in Scotland'.
McConnell, speaking for the first time publicly on the inquiry, said it had shown how important it was to have devolution. 'It has just confirmed to me the importance of moving away from a situation where four or five ministers – or essentially one minister, because the secretary of state was all-powerful in the Scottish Office – ran the country,' he said.
According to the first minister, one symptom of the pre-devolution situation was that some civil servants were too close to their political masters and others were not close enough. He believed the system had to change. Devolution had confirmed the need for an open and transparent system of government that was fundamental to improving decision-making in Scotland.
McConnell, who commissioned the Holyrood inquiry, indicated he would be willing to give evidence. He said: 'I want to ensure we have got not only a comprehensive report on what happened but, and more importantly, a set of recommendations to ensure this never happens again.'
PFjan2004
