From their standpoint outside government, some of Britain’s top professional bodies talk of the priorities for their colleagues in the civil service – and their fears that the professionalisation agenda will come under pressure in future.
In the depths of purdah, Civil Service World is not able to continue with our canter through the civil service professions. However, this is a key time for the civil service’s professional groups: if Labour wins the election, the professions may be expected to continue as before – but a coalition, minority government or Tory administration may take a different line on the direction, pace and aims of the professions agenda.
At this crucial time, CSW approached a set of the UK’s chartered institutes and professional membership bodies, seeking their views on the civil service. We asked: “How should professional skills in your field develop within government over the next Parliament?”
The answers are telling – not least because several chose to talk not about skills, but about handling the inevitable public sector spending cuts. Others argued for professional qualifications and skills to be taken more seriously inside government, and warned about the dangers that professionals will face as the axes begin to swing. But within all the answers, these organisations’ fears are clear: that their civil service cadres will be whittled away by redundancies, and that cost pressures will lead senior officials to hire cheaper, less qualified people to do professional jobs.
If that is the outcome, then service quality is likely to suffer; after all, as every housewife knows, ‘buy cheap, buy twice’. Unfortunately, in those departments most affected by future budget cuts, some employers may end up counting themselves lucky if they’re able to buy at all.
Dean Shoesmith, president of the Public Sector People Managers’ Association and executive head of HR at the London Boroughs of Sutton and Merton
It’s a fact that the country is in debt, and savings need to be made. Regardless of which party wins the election, it is inevitable that there will be transformation in the delivery of public sector services, as well as pay restraint and changes to default retirement age. All three main parties’ manifestos seem broadly in agreement on these points, albeit with some changes in emphasis.
With these changes comes uncertainty, which can have a detrimental effect on workforce productivity. Leaders in the public sector will have to work extremely hard over the next few years to create an environment where, despite transformational change, staff feel engaged, want to come to work, and care about their job and the public they serve. Only then will we really be able to do more with less.
The challenge for public sector organisations will be making sure they make the right decisions in terms of where services are prioritised, what is de-commissioned, and how services are provided, whilst also ensuring that they find time to be innovative and look for new, improved ways of doing things.
Mark Stuart, head of research, the Chartered Institute of Marketing
Whichever party (or parties) forms the next government, all are likely to cut marketing and advertising budgets. Labour says it will cut the £540m total budget by 25 per cent, with the Conservatives promising even bigger cuts of up to 40 per cent. This puts marketers and professional communicators within government in something of a dilemma.
The benefits of government marketing have consistently been proven: campaigns like Change4Life are shown to work, with projected savings for the NHS in both the short and the long term far outweighing the initial investment. So perhaps government marketers’ future challenge is to ‘market the marketers’: to address the public perception that marketing is simply a cost (and hence an easy target for popular cuts) and to demonstrate that, in fact, marketing is a cost-saving benefit.
A forthcoming paper from the institute will look in more detail at how government marketers can make cuts, whilst preserving the socially beneficial results that marketing and communications can help produce. In the meantime, we can help our members by offering a range of courses and qualifications to ensure that, as belts are tightened across all departments, government marketers can make sure that the right messages are heard.
Alison Scott, assistant director for local government, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
CIPFA members will be at the heart of how public service organisations minimise the impact of the forthcoming cuts, and a recent CIPFA report explored some of the ways in which they could do so. Three main strategies emerged: redefining the relationship between the individual and state; significantly reducing the number of layers within public services; and making further efficiency savings from improved joint working between public service organisations and the third sector. All these strategies will require finance professionals to develop strategies to capture the benefits and distribute resources in new ways.
To ensure that cuts are managed effectively, we have been working to ensure that the pivotal role of the chief financial officer (CFO) is properly recognised. The CFO is a key member of the leadership team of a public service organisation, and should participate fully in the development of strategy. The importance of the CFO will be underlined as public expenditure cuts begin to bite.
David Noble, chief executive officer, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply
Strategic supply chain management and procurement practices can help achieve long-term, measurable impact that focuses on delivering better value and not just cutting cost.
Supply chains impact business health and economic recovery, and supply chain failure can cost a business huge amounts of money, and put its reputation at risk. Just as you need qualified accountants in your finance department and lawyers in your legal department, you need qualified professionals in charge of your supply chain.
Unfortunately, there are too many occasions where this is not the case; business leaders need to ensure their supply chain staff are properly trained and qualified to manage supply chains effectively through robust risk management, thorough contract management, and strong relationships with creative and innovative suppliers.
Creating a minister for procurement would help to ensure better professionalism and communication across all government departments, and that the pockets of excellent practice that current exist in the public sector become standard practice.
Robert Heslett, president, the Law Society
Solicitors within government provide an essential source of independent advice to ministers and fellow civil servants: within the Crown Prosecution Service, for example, they discharge the vital role of prosecuting in the public interest.
We believe it is crucial that government should continue to recognise solicitors as independent expert advisers with a professional duty. The next government must resist the temptation to ‘dumb down’ its legal services professionals, in effect devaluing the expertise that such professional qualifications provide.
Solicitors, for their part, need to demonstrate that the advice they give is both practical and sound. They need to have the courage to resist pressure of whatever sort to provide the ‘correct answer’. We encourage all solicitors in the civil service to further develop their specialist skills, seeking – for example – extended rights of advocacy in the civil and criminal courts, so that they can show added value to government by their expertise.
Adam Thilthorpe, director for professionalism at BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT
For both organisations and individuals, professional IT skills are critical to delivering the transformational government agenda. The competence, capacity and capability of IT professionals is under scrutiny as never before, and the delivery of large-scale and big budget projects will be central to any future government’s agenda.
Government can play a part in helping to drive the acceptance of emerging standards – such as the Chartered Status for IT Professionals – within the senior echelons of the IT profession. This in turn will help government ensure that its IT professionals and suppliers are competent and equipped to deliver results for the benefit of their organisations.
One of the recent successes has been the skills framework ‘SFIA’, which allows for a clear and consistent language across all sectors and skills within IT. As more departments and organisations adopt SFIA, so the benefits of developing clear skill sets linked to continuous professional development are being realised.