How to fix the civil service

This weekend, Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, announced that he is attempting to improve the performance of the civil service. I genuinely wish him luck, but I am not optimistic. After a decade in and around government – including five years as a schools minister – I am convinced the Whitehall model of government is broken.

Unfortunately, it seems like McFadden’s civil service reforms – such as performance related pay and more digitalisation – only scrape the surface. And with the Labour party in hock to the unions and with a dearth of business experience on its benches, I can’t see any serious change happening.

It helps to understand first that the civil service’s organisational structure is still in the dark ages. Layers of officials spend weeks drafting carefully worded documents (or submissions) for ministers, meetings are rarely attended by fewer than ten people, and decisions are made at a snail-like pace.