09 February 2007
The beleaguered Home Office this week introduced the first ever Whitehall 'contract' clarifying the specific roles and responsibilities of ministers and civil servants, Public Finance has learnt.
Home Secretary John Reid, who last year described the department as 'not fit for purpose,' and his permanent secretary, Sir David Normington, have produced the 'compact' as part of plans to improve the performance of the Home Office, Marsham Street sources confirmed on February 7.
One source said that the contract will outline the requirements placed on senior officials across a number of organisations, including the Immigration and Nationalities Directorate, for example, which is due to become an arm's-length agency.
The department's critical Departmental Capability Review, published last summer, described Reid's plan to develop 'a new contract between ministers and officials, clarifying respective roles and expectations in relation to policy, operational delivery and management'.
The Home Office's many problems – which have included difficulties tracing foreign criminals, inadequate accounting, prison overcrowding, and problems with the sex offenders' register – prompted Opposition accusations that it was a department 'in severe crisis'.
But they have also raised questions over ministerial accountability, after organisations such as the FDA, which represents Whitehall mandarins, accused politicians of 'scapegoating' civil servants and politicising Whitehall decision-making.
Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell, speaking to the Commons' public administration select committee 24 hours before Normington announced his compact to staff, said: 'The Home Office is attempting to achieve it [clarity over respective roles within a department] and it will be interesting to see how it operates – they're dipping their toe in the water.'
PASC chair Tony Wright said he favoured a contractual approach. 'If this approach is good enough for the Home Office, then it's good enough for them all, surely?' he said.
There is, however, uncertainty over whether other Whitehall departments will follow the Home Office's lead.
O'Donnell previously expressed scepticism over the use of contracts, telling PF in December that there were advantages to the current system as it allows flexibility in how ministers lead departments and in which decisions senior staff should undertake on ministers' behalf. However, he said he remained open-minded.
During his evidence to MPs, O'Donnell also revealed that moves are afoot to intensify on-the-job-training for ministers. Former local government minister Nick Raynsford recently criticised the quick ministerial turnover at some departments, indicating that individuals rarely master their policy brief.
'I would really like to expand that [training]. Going from being a backbencher one day to suddenly being a minister in a department is hard,' O'Donnell said. 'There is a lot we could do and there is an issue about keeping people in post for longer. [But] obviously it is for the prime minister to decide.'
He also indicated that the compact could shortly be followed by an announcement on breaking up the Home Office to make it more effective.
Asked by Wright to 'give assurances' that any break-up would involve consultation with interested select committees, O'Donnell revealed that Reid's team began assessing the potential split 'last autumn' and that 'it was discussed again at last week's Cabinet.
'The prime minister has [also] asked me to look at these issues and put some advice to him. I will put advice to him, it is then up to him to make machinery-of-government changes.'
Reid has floated the idea of placing criminal and offender management services in the hands of the Department for Constitutional Affairs, leaving his department to deal with security, immigration and home affairs issues.
Meanwhile, O'Donnell revealed that Whitehall departments sacked 1,250 civil servants last year, and claimed that it dispelled the myth that the civil service fails to crack down on the sort of poor performance seen at the Home Office. 'Last year, 50,000 people left the civil service. Of those around 2.5% left due to dismissals due to inefficiency. There's this myth going around that it [sacking people] doesn't happen. It's not true,' he said.
PFfeb2007
