Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy has written to the prime minister pledging to work with the government on reforming the civil service – but also warning that regulation should not be viewed as a barrier to growth.
In his letter to Keir Starmer, Clancy acknowledges that the PM’s reform speech last week recognised the talent within the civil service and officials’ desire “to serve their country”. Clancy also noted that “reform is needed” to make the best use officials’ skills.
However, he took issue with a core thread of Starmer’s speech: the assertion that the UK has become an overly bureaucratic “watchdog state” that is “completely out of whack with the priorities of the British people”.
Starmer said the nation’s “vast array” of quangos, arm’s-length bodies and regulators had become “a sort of cottage industry of checkers and blockers”.
Clancy’s letter says the current government should be wary of viewing all regulation as a barrier to growth – something it suggests previous governments have done.
“In many areas, the regulators Prospect represents members in, such as the Health and Safety Executive, the Intellectual Property Office, and the Office for Nuclear Regulation, are vital in giving industry the assurance it needs to invest in the UK economy," Clancy said. “The goal must be to regulate better, not to pursue a blunt approach to removing so-called ‘red tape’.”
In his speech last week, Starmer was careful to stress that the systems he was complaining about had been created by politicians, and did not directly blame individuals working for those organisations.
Clancy gave a nod to careful choice of language on the part of the PM and Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden in their recent comments on reform. However, he said there was a troubling undercurrent from other government sources.
“We have been concerned by some of the comments in the public sphere characterising our members as blockers of the government agenda," Clancy said. “This is not the case, and we believe that no civil servant should be blamed for doing their job and enforcing existing laws and regulations.”
He added: “Some of the language used in media briefings has been divisive and is not conducive to a respectful conversation about necessary reforms.”
Clancy pledged that Prospect – which has tens of thousands of members across departments and agencies – would work with the government on its plans to reshape the civil service, however he said that reviewing pay frameworks for particular skills areas would be an “essential part” of the task.
“Reform will only be effectively delivered alongside the public sector workforce," he said. “Trade unions like ours are experts at working with organisations to manage change, particularly in the private sector.
“We hope you will instruct your ministers and officials to work in much closer partnership with trade unions like Prospect, including us at the earliest possible stage in conversations about change. This ‘no surprises’ approach works well in private sector collective bargaining, something the government could learn from.”
On pay, Clancy stressed that existing structures within the civil service are stopping departments and agencies from recruiting people with the necessary digital, technical and scientific skills to meet the challenges faced by government.
“The State of Digital Government Review and Matt Clifford’s AI Opportunities Action Plan have made a good start in identifying part of this problem,” Clancy said. “But we must move much more quickly to address it, if reforms in this area are to have a significant impact in this parliament.”
Civil Service World sought a No.10 response. It had not provided one at the time of publication.