By Marino Donati | 16 October 2014
The appointment of Whitehall permanent secretaries will now be made by the prime minister from a selection of candidates, rather than on the basis of a single recommendation, it has been announced.
The Civil Service Commission has set out new rules so that in the future, the prime minister will be given a choice of candidates assessed as ‘appointable’ by an independent panel chaired by the First Civil Service Commissioner.
Currently the commission’s rules allow for a panel to recommend only one candidate, which the prime minister must either accept or reject.
Following the reforms, which will apply to around 25 posts from December, the prime minister will receive an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of those candidates from which he will make the final selection, based on merit as the law requires.
First Civil Service Commissioner Sir David Normington said the changes were only being made following certainty that the principle of appointment on merit was fully protected.
‘Our foremost concern has been to protect the principle of an impartial Civil Service, appointed on merit and able to serve the government of the day and any future government, whatever their political colour,’ he said.
The safeguards include making sure the selection panel will be chaired by the First Civil Service Commissioner, who must approve the panel membership and all the recruitment process, which they can pause of the principles are not being followed.
There must be no opportunity for a candidate to be added to the list if the panel has not assessed them as appointable.
Normington said: ‘An important element in our decision has been the assurance from the prime minister and the official opposition that they have no wish to politicise the civil service.’
The change comes as the government announced earlier this month that from April 2015, there will be a new presumption that senior civil service appointments below permanent secretary level will be open to external candidates.
Responding to the announcement of the expansion of the list of candidates for the top civil service roles, Institute for Government director Peter Riddell welcomed the change and the safeguards to protect the principle of non-political civil service. The new system would ‘be more accountable and more closely reflect reality’, he added.
‘We are therefore pleased that this long-running source of tension and debate between the civil Service and ministers has been resolved,’ he said. ‘Of course it is the secretary of state who will work more closely with the head of the department and will no doubt need to provide their advice to the prime minister too.’
