Prime minister Keir Starmer has received a quietly positive response to his speech pledging to reduce the burden of regulation on business and the “cottage industry of checkers and blockers” in a drive to cut civil service costs.
The PM’s proposals for greater use of artificial intelligence, with the promise of a £45bn savings prize, were nothing new to observers of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s January State of digital government review.
Starmer did pull a rabbit of sorts out of the hat by announcing the abolition of NHS England as a totem of his concerns about the extent to which politicians have created “a vast array of quangos, arm’s-length bodies and regulators" to hide behind.
“The state employs more people than we’ve employed for decades, yet look around the country. Do you see good value?” he asked. "I actually think it’s weaker: overstretched, unfocused, trying to do too much, doing it badly, unable to deliver the security that people need.
“We don't want a bigger state, a more intrusive state, an over-expanding state, a state that demands more and more of people as it itself fails to deliver on core purposes, so we've got to change things.”
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, said Starmer had adopted a more constructive tone this week than in his notorious December speech accusing civil servants of being “comfortable in a tepid bath of managed decline”.
He said Starmer’s recognition that over-regulation was an error on the part of previous governments – rather than civil servants – was a "good step" to fixing the situation.
“The prime minister made it a little clearer that what he's talking about is that system, rather than the individuals,” Penman said. “Some of the times his language has actually seemed to blame civil servants for what are systemic problems around government.
“Government is not only about the civil service itself, it's also about what ministers ask it to do.”
Penman said the last decade, which has seen six prime ministers, eight chancellors, and 40 different finance ministers, had strong similarities to a football team that keeps changing its manager.
“They keep bringing in new ideas and initiatives, but it's really inefficient," Penman said. “That doesn't mean the civil service can't reform, shouldn't reform or do things better. But if you genuinely want to fix government, you need to look at what the problems are, and those are complex. Rather than saying it's all ministers' fault or it's all the civil servants' fault, it’s about seeing what gets in the way.”
Better pay 'must be part of the solution'
Mike Clancy, general secretary of professionals’ union Prospect, said Starmer was right in observing that the civil service is full of talented people who want to serve their country, and that reform is needed to make the best use of their skills.
“Prospect is up for this debate and ready to work with government to deliver on this agenda,” he said. “An essential part of this reform needs to be ensuring that the pay framework enables the civil service to recruit and retain ‘the brightest and the best’ in areas like science and digital, and it is good to see that the government accepts this problem.”
However, Clancy said the government needed to recognise the fine line between “cutting back bureaucracy and undermining the essential functions of the state”.
He said: “Civil servants in agencies such as HSE and the Environment Agency are at the frontline of delivering on the government’s missions – writing them off as ‘blockers’ is a profound mistake. Prospect will be making the case that good regulation is the foundation of economic success, not a barrier to it.”
Ministers should be supporting officials, as well as reforming the state
Fran Heathcote, general secretary at PCS, the civil service’s biggest union, said Starmer needed to remember that the government’s Plan for Change – to “rewire” the state – was a double-edged sword for officials.
“Labour says it is fixing the state so that it works for working people," she said. “Civil servants are working people, so this plan must also work for them.”
Heathcote said PCS members had a key role in delivering the raised living standards for every part of the United Kingdom that the Plan for Change pledges.
“The government needs to ensure their interests are taken into account by providing them with job security and good pay and conditions," she said.
“We agree technology has a part to play in improving public services and enhancing our members’ job satisfaction, but we are also clear that it cannot be used as a blunt instrument to cut jobs.
“Better public services and better front-line delivery will require human beings making empathetic decisions, not automatons incapable of understanding people’s needs.
“Any proposals for changing the way our members work must be done in full consultation with the unions.”
'Thousands of staff will be left wondering what their future holds'
Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison – which has members across the NHS, local government and at the Department of Health and Social Care – said Starmer’s announcement that NHS England is to be abolished was “shambolic”.
“This announcement will have left NHS England staff reeling. Just days ago they learned their numbers were to be slashed by half, now they discover their employer will cease to exist," she said.
“The way the news of the axing has been handled is nothing short of shambolic. It could surely have been managed in a more sympathetic way.
“Thousands of expert staff will be left wondering what their future holds. Wherever possible, their valuable skills must be redeployed and used to the benefit of the reformed NHS and patients.
“Ministers have to reassure employees right across the NHS that there’s a robust plan to rejuvenate a flailing NHS and deliver for working people.”
Yesterday, acting DHSC permanent secretary Prof Sir Chris Whitty told MPs that his department is about to launch a voluntary-exit scheme to reduce headcount, with no current target level for shrinking its roughly 3,600 numbers.
Whitty said the future size of the department would depend on how plans for DHSC’s future role panned out in the light of NHS England’s abolition.
Yesterday, Starmer said reducing duplication of roles between DHSC and NHS England was the driving motivation for the change.
"If you can believe it, we’ve got a communications team in NHS England, communications team in the health department of government. Got a strategy team in NHS England, a strategy team in the government department," he said.
"If we strip that out, which is what we’re doing today, that then allows us to free up that money to put it where it needs to be, which is the front line."
Layla Moran, chair of parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee, said she welcomed the “boldness” of the NHS England announcement, but that the plan raised a litany of questions.
“Our primary concern is that these changes deliver for patients and families across the country, and we will be holding the government to account to ensure that they walk the walk not just talk the talk on improving outcomes for patients,” she said.
Quango clampdown 'a vital step'
Joe Hill, policy director at think tank Reform, saluted Starmer’s analysis that the state has become "bigger, but weaker", but said the PM's prescription was “only half the answer”.
“Taking back control of unaccountable public bodies is a vital step in taking back the levers of power," he said. “Our research shows over 100 quangos should be brought back in house or scrapped. And the government's commitment to finding £45bn of savings and productivity benefits from AI and automation is the right scale of ambition.
“But reforming Whitehall means making tough choices, and cashing in AI savings means getting rid of people. Ultimately, achieving the PM’s vision means fundamental reform of the civil service model itself – cutting headcount, firing poor performers and securing and rewarding talent.”
Hill noted that Starmer had been “silent” on the latter areas in Thursday’s speech.
Reform also strongly supports the abolition of NHS England, which is a move it has repeatedly called for.
Rosie Beacon, head of health at the think tank, said scrapping NHS England had to involve more than “lifting people and processes from one organisation and putting them into another”.
“This must be the first step on the road to real reform,” she said. “Top-down diktats need to be slashed and local health systems freed to design services that meet local needs. In taking back control, health secretary Wes Streeting now needs to embark on a truly radical shake up of our broken model.”