The pledge came after last week’s publication of the Civil Service Reform Plan, which set out proposals to strengthen the role of secretaries of state in the recruitment of permanent secretaries and other senior departmental figures.
In a memo sent to its members, the FDA singled this proposal out as one of a number of “potentially controversial” aspects of the reform plan. “The principle of civil service impartiality will remain at the core of our approach, and the FDA would oppose any proposals that would weaken it,” the union said.
The FDA’s next general secretary Dave Penman said it would be “naïve” to suggest secretaries of state currently have no role in making key departmental appointments.
“But we’d want to see that the [new] process meets all the requirements of an open and fair selection, and that individuals are not chosen who have strong associations with the politics and personality of a particular secretary of state,” he said.
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