Stop voting for fucking Tories

[SaintK]

Hancock making a tasty target - wonder if he'll be hung out to dry?

No surprise there then. Hgancock has come over as a needy cunt throughout all this

Cummings says that, when they were trying to set up the test and trace system, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, interfered. He says that was because he wanted officials to focus on work that would help him meet the target for reaching 100,000 tests per day that he had set. He said Hancock should have been sacked for this alone. It was “criminal, disgraceful behaviour that caused serious harm”

[Rhubarb & Custard]

One might conclude the connection to be some risible governmental policies, which even if implemented well are so stupid any success would be ephemeral. But for too many governments if ephemeral is long enough to get a good headline, say something like 'Get Brexit done', it doesn't matter if much of what follows is dafter than a syphilitic badger

[Tichtheid]

There is a report here which compares Civil Services from across the world on 12 areas, how each country scores on each of the 12 areas is shown on page 26, with details for the UK on page 66.

The UK comes top overall, with improvement needed in some areas.

International Civil Service Effectiveness Index 2019

https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/ ... Report.pdf

[tabascoboy]

Wonder how Hancock himself will respond to this? Hardly seems the type to launch a stinging riposte but if he leaves it to the PM and other cabinet members to defend him he'll look even more weak.

[tabascoboy]

Well, we all know "but the economy..."

[Paddington Bear]

One might conclude the connection to be some risible governmental policies, which even if implemented well are so stupid any success would be ephemeral. But for too many governments if ephemeral is long enough to get a good headline, say something like 'Get Brexit done', it doesn't matter if much of what follows is dafter than a syphilitic badger

Right, which is why I expanded this to a 20 year timeframe (and could go further). They fail regardless of the merits of the policy itself.

There is a report here which compares Civil Services from across the world on 12 areas, how each country scores on each of the 12 areas is shown on page 28, with details for the UK on page 66.

The UK comes top overall, with improvement needed in some areas.

International Civil Service Effectiveness Index 2019

https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/ ... Report.pdf

Do we stick this on the fridge next to the reports that placed us world number one for pandemic response?

[Tichtheid]

One might conclude the connection to be some risible governmental policies, which even if implemented well are so stupid any success would be ephemeral. But for too many governments if ephemeral is long enough to get a good headline, say something like 'Get Brexit done', it doesn't matter if much of what follows is dafter than a syphilitic badger

Right, which is why I expanded this to a 20 year timeframe (and could go further). They fail regardless of the merits of the policy itself.

There is a report here which compares Civil Services from across the world on 12 areas, how each country scores on each of the 12 areas is shown on page 28, with details for the UK on page 66.

The UK comes top overall, with improvement needed in some areas.

International Civil Service Effectiveness Index 2019

https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/ ... Report.pdf

Do we stick this on the fridge next to the reports that placed us world number one for pandemic response?

I don't think that would stop the knee jerk reactions some people have against the Civil Service, it's almost as if it's ideological rather than evidence-based.

[Paddington Bear]

One might conclude the connection to be some risible governmental policies, which even if implemented well are so stupid any success would be ephemeral. But for too many governments if ephemeral is long enough to get a good headline, say something like 'Get Brexit done', it doesn't matter if much of what follows is dafter than a syphilitic badger

Right, which is why I expanded this to a 20 year timeframe (and could go further). They fail regardless of the merits of the policy itself.

There is a report here which compares Civil Services from across the world on 12 areas, how each country scores on each of the 12 areas is shown on page 28, with details for the UK on page 66.

The UK comes top overall, with improvement needed in some areas.

International Civil Service Effectiveness Index 2019

https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/ ... Report.pdf

Do we stick this on the fridge next to the reports that placed us world number one for pandemic response?

I don't think that would stop the knee jerk reactions some people have against the Civil Service, it's almost as if it's ideological rather than evidence-based.

What would you hold up as Civil Service led public policy successes over the last 20 years?

[SaintK]

Wonder how Hancock himself will respond to this? Hardly seems the type to launch a stinging riposte but if he leaves it to the PM and other cabinet members to defend him he'll look even more weak.

....and a bit more pain for him

Back in the hearing Cummings says Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, told Boris Johnson that the cabinet system was not set up to deal with a minister like Matt Hancock who repeatedly lied in meetings.

[Tichtheid]

What would you hold up as Civil Service led public policy successes over the last 20 years?

If you look at page 26 in the report you'll see areas where the UK Civil Service performs strongly - Regulation, Fiscal and Financial Management, Policy Making, Tax Administration etc, it also show where the UK performs poorly - Digital Services really stands out here with the UK sitting at 27th place, well below the average performance level.

[tabascoboy]

What would you hold up as Civil Service led public policy successes over the last 20 years?

And what be be your recipe for turning it into a success?

[SaintK]

Wonder how Hancock himself will respond to this? Hardly seems the type to launch a stinging riposte but if he leaves it to the PM and other cabinet members to defend him he'll look even more weak.

....and a bit more pain for him

Back in the hearing Cummings says Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, told Boris Johnson that the cabinet system was not set up to deal with a minister like Matt Hancock who repeatedly lied in meetings.

...........and some more!

He says "Hancock was interfering" with things in government to make sure he hit the target "when the PM was on his death bed".
Cummings says he and Sir Patrick Vallance had to start calling around government officials and saying "do not do what Hancock says," he says Hancock was instructing officials to hold tests back so he could hit his 100,000 target by the end of April.

[fishfoodie]

Wonder how Hancock himself will respond to this? Hardly seems the type to launch a stinging riposte but if he leaves it to the PM and other cabinet members to defend him he'll look even more weak.

....and a bit more pain for him

Back in the hearing Cummings says Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, told Boris Johnson that the cabinet system was not set up to deal with a minister like Matt Hancock who repeatedly lied in meetings.

Well if they're going to exclude liars from the Cabinet; whoever takes the notes will be sitting in there on their own.

[tabascoboy]

Wonder how Hancock himself will respond to this? Hardly seems the type to launch a stinging riposte but if he leaves it to the PM and other cabinet members to defend him he'll look even more weak.

....and a bit more pain for him

Back in the hearing Cummings says Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, told Boris Johnson that the cabinet system was not set up to deal with a minister like Matt Hancock who repeatedly lied in meetings.

...........and some more!

He says "Hancock was interfering" with things in government to make sure he hit the target "when the PM was on his death bed".
Cummings says he and Sir Patrick Vallance had to start calling around government officials and saying "do not do what Hancock says," he says Hancock was instructing officials to hold tests back so he could hit his 100,000 target by the end of April.

Many people pointing out that as well as Hancock the blame for not having a strategy also lies with former Health Sec Jeremy Hunt.

Seriously those two names just show that the Tories could definitely look like they only wanted the DoH to be a failure!

[fishfoodie]

....and a bit more pain for him

...........and some more!

He says "Hancock was interfering" with things in government to make sure he hit the target "when the PM was on his death bed".
Cummings says he and Sir Patrick Vallance had to start calling around government officials and saying "do not do what Hancock says," he says Hancock was instructing officials to hold tests back so he could hit his 100,000 target by the end of April.

Many people pointing out that as well as Hancock the blame for not having a strategy also lies with former Health Sec Jeremy Hunt.

Seriously those two names just show that the Tories could definitely look like they only wanted the DoH to be a failure!

Of course they did !

It's been a Tory policy for years to get the NHS to the point of failing so badly; so they could reduce the public's resistance to privatisation.

Look how well the process worked for British Rail !

[Paddington Bear]

What would you hold up as Civil Service led public policy successes over the last 20 years?

And what be be your recipe for turning it into a success?

Various things (not exhaustive and obviously I'm just a bloke on the internet):
1) decentralise the Treasury. It is not an accident that spending is concentrated in London, even when the cost/benefit analysis shows money should be better spent elsewhere. Crucially, this isn't about sending the back office to Newport, decision makers need to live and work outside of London. There's no way the trains between Manchester and Leeds would be as shite as they are if SCS were commuting on them.
2) Greater accountability on results. Harries 'masks don't work' has been promoted. Screw the hierarchy, promote people who get results and sack those who don't.
3) Hire experts on subject areas. We clearly don't have enough (see Heywood unable to find anyone in the CS who understood the oil market during the GFC). Generalists have uses, but reserves of expertise are lacking and this leads to delays, obfuscation and poor outcomes.
4) Pay good CS more! A talented civil servant in their 30s can barely afford a shoebox within London, no wonder they lose talent. Reward success, penalise failure.
5) Stop relying on consultancy firms. They don't have huge expertise on anything, they just outsource decision making. CS should be encouraged to be decisive and use their own initiatives.
6) Clearer, and more public metrics for success.
7) Change of mindset. Objective - sustained economic growth. Crack that and everything becomes easier. There's still a managed decline mentality, a contributor to a wasted decade.

I'd say these are a start.

[tabascoboy]

What would you hold up as Civil Service led public policy successes over the last 20 years?

And what be be your recipe for turning it into a success?

Various things (not exhaustive and obviously I'm just a bloke on the internet):
1) decentralise the Treasury. It is not an accident that spending is concentrated in London, even when the cost/benefit analysis shows money should be better spent elsewhere. Crucially, this isn't about sending the back office to Newport, decision makers need to live and work outside of London. There's no way the trains between Manchester and Leeds would be as shite as they are if SCS were commuting on them.
2) Greater accountability on results. Harries 'masks don't work' has been promoted. Screw the hierarchy, promote people who get results and sack those who don't.
3) Hire experts on subject areas. We clearly don't have enough (see Heywood unable to find anyone in the CS who understood the oil market during the GFC). Generalists have uses, but reserves of expertise are lacking and this leads to delays, obfuscation and poor outcomes.
4) Pay good CS more! A talented civil servant in their 30s can barely afford a shoebox within London, no wonder they lose talent. Reward success, penalise failure.
5) Stop relying on consultancy firms. They don't have huge expertise on anything, they just outsource decision making. CS should be encouraged to be decisive and use their own initiatives.
6) Clearer, and more public metrics for success.
7) Change of mindset. Objective - sustained economic growth. Crack that and everything becomes easier. There's still a managed decline mentality, a contributor to a wasted decade.

I'd say these are a start.

Fair enough, I was half expecting "privatise it!"

[tabascoboy]

"Let them eat cake"

[Paddington Bear]

And what be be your recipe for turning it into a success?

Various things (not exhaustive and obviously I'm just a bloke on the internet):
1) decentralise the Treasury. It is not an accident that spending is concentrated in London, even when the cost/benefit analysis shows money should be better spent elsewhere. Crucially, this isn't about sending the back office to Newport, decision makers need to live and work outside of London. There's no way the trains between Manchester and Leeds would be as shite as they are if SCS were commuting on them.
2) Greater accountability on results. Harries 'masks don't work' has been promoted. Screw the hierarchy, promote people who get results and sack those who don't.
3) Hire experts on subject areas. We clearly don't have enough (see Heywood unable to find anyone in the CS who understood the oil market during the GFC). Generalists have uses, but reserves of expertise are lacking and this leads to delays, obfuscation and poor outcomes.
4) Pay good CS more! A talented civil servant in their 30s can barely afford a shoebox within London, no wonder they lose talent. Reward success, penalise failure.
5) Stop relying on consultancy firms. They don't have huge expertise on anything, they just outsource decision making. CS should be encouraged to be decisive and use their own initiatives.
6) Clearer, and more public metrics for success.
7) Change of mindset. Objective - sustained economic growth. Crack that and everything becomes easier. There's still a managed decline mentality, a contributor to a wasted decade.

I'd say these are a start.

Fair enough, I was half expecting "privatise it!"

Ha not at all - my job takes me to all sorts of large corporates and I have significant reservations about their much famed efficiency.

[tabascoboy]

[dpedin]

Cant stop watching Cummings ... it is hilarious, fascinating and horrific at the same time. Still only scratching the surface. Still, pleased to see his eyesight has recovered enough for him to keep referring to his notes for the damning evidence.

[Slick]

What would you hold up as Civil Service led public policy successes over the last 20 years?

And what be be your recipe for turning it into a success?

Various things (not exhaustive and obviously I'm just a bloke on the internet):
1) decentralise the Treasury. It is not an accident that spending is concentrated in London, even when the cost/benefit analysis shows money should be better spent elsewhere. Crucially, this isn't about sending the back office to Newport, decision makers need to live and work outside of London. There's no way the trains between Manchester and Leeds would be as shite as they are if SCS were commuting on them.
2) Greater accountability on results. Harries 'masks don't work' has been promoted. Screw the hierarchy, promote people who get results and sack those who don't.
3) Hire experts on subject areas. We clearly don't have enough (see Heywood unable to find anyone in the CS who understood the oil market during the GFC). Generalists have uses, but reserves of expertise are lacking and this leads to delays, obfuscation and poor outcomes.
4) Pay good CS more! A talented civil servant in their 30s can barely afford a shoebox within London, no wonder they lose talent. Reward success, penalise failure.
5) Stop relying on consultancy firms. They don't have huge expertise on anything, they just outsource decision making. CS should be encouraged to be decisive and use their own initiatives.
6) Clearer, and more public metrics for success.
7) Change of mindset. Objective - sustained economic growth. Crack that and everything becomes easier. There's still a managed decline mentality, a contributor to a wasted decade.

I'd say these are a start.

Good post. Have highlighted where I strongly agree. Also, hire on merit and make getting rid of waste easier.

[tabascoboy]

[Tichtheid]

The civil service did used to have loads of expertise, but they were all gotten rid of as a cost-cutting exercise, a whole generation were chucked out.
One of the problems facing the Civil Service when Blair came as PM was that no one knew how to spend the money properly

[Slick]

The civil service did used to have loads of expertise, but they were all gotten rid of as a cost-cutting exercise, a whole generation were chucked out.
One of the problems facing the Civil Service when Blair came as PM was that no one knew how to spend the money properly

It's true.

I happen to think the UK CS is pretty good. One problem they have is that all the top class graduates, not surprisingly, gravitate towards the glamour departments like FCO and DfID (FCDO now of course) which makes a real imbalance of talent across the board

[tabascoboy]

Well, DC now stating that his infamous Barnard Castle trip was for "security" after his family had received threats but a bit evasive about why if this was the case he and family returned to London so soon...

[Macca]

You hear that?

That's the sound of Matt Hancock going under the bus.

[tabascoboy]

BoJo's only response seems to be along the lines of "It's all going great now, and Hancocks doing great and don't worry your pretty little heads about how we got here, now it's all great"

[fishfoodie]

You hear that?

That's the sound of Matt Hancock going under the bus.

What's this new quote ?

[JM2K6]

Well, we all know "but the economy..."

Remember the nudge unit? useless fucking cunts stealing a living, it turns out. whatta shocker

(Ian Dunt is a minefield of bad takes, mind)

[tabascoboy]

[JM2K6]

Chances of Cummings doing anything to upset Sunak seem to be diminishing if he's not going to mention Sunak's prime role in bringing in the anti-lockdown fuckwits to talk to the PM.

[ASMO]

And what be be your recipe for turning it into a success?

Various things (not exhaustive and obviously I'm just a bloke on the internet):
1) decentralise the Treasury. It is not an accident that spending is concentrated in London, even when the cost/benefit analysis shows money should be better spent elsewhere. Crucially, this isn't about sending the back office to Newport, decision makers need to live and work outside of London. There's no way the trains between Manchester and Leeds would be as shite as they are if SCS were commuting on them.
2) Greater accountability on results. Harries 'masks don't work' has been promoted. Screw the hierarchy, promote people who get results and sack those who don't.
3) Hire experts on subject areas. We clearly don't have enough (see Heywood unable to find anyone in the CS who understood the oil market during the GFC). Generalists have uses, but reserves of expertise are lacking and this leads to delays, obfuscation and poor outcomes.
4) Pay good CS more! A talented civil servant in their 30s can barely afford a shoebox within London, no wonder they lose talent. Reward success, penalise failure.
5) Stop relying on consultancy firms. They don't have huge expertise on anything, they just outsource decision making. CS should be encouraged to be decisive and use their own initiatives.
6) Clearer, and more public metrics for success.
7) Change of mindset. Objective - sustained economic growth. Crack that and everything becomes easier. There's still a managed decline mentality, a contributor to a wasted decade.

I'd say these are a start.

Good post. Have highlighted where I strongly agree. Also, hire on merit and make getting rid of waste easier.

Just to note, Civil servants do not make policy, ministers do.

Minsters often change their mind halfways through any sort of implementation making it impossible to deliver.

Most government policy is tactical and not strategic, they do what looks good to voters at the next election, and not what would look good to voters in 2 or 3 elections after, and strategic change can sometimes take 10-15 years, no politician would support an initiative that their potential opposition could benefit from.

SCS travel all over the country and are based all over the country.

Like every organisation you have good and bad staff, the CS is no different in that respect...i could go on.

[robmatic]

Chances of Cummings doing anything to upset Sunak seem to be diminishing if he's not going to mention Sunak's prime role in bringing in the anti-lockdown fuckwits to talk to the PM.

Why would he want to cheese off the next PM?

[SaintK]

You hear that?

That's the sound of Matt Hancock going under the bus.

The bus is running late by the looks of it!

Cummings says Boris Johnson was told he should keep Matt Hancock as health secretary so that he could sack him when the public inquiry happened.
He says his own view was that waiting was a mistake, because keeping Hancock in place would give him more time to mess things up.

[JM2K6]

Chances of Cummings doing anything to upset Sunak seem to be diminishing if he's not going to mention Sunak's prime role in bringing in the anti-lockdown fuckwits to talk to the PM.

Why would he want to cheese off the next PM?

Quite. He's being incredibly disingenuous. Throwing people he doesn't like under the bus while completely ignoring or even boosting people who real negative impact on what happened.

[tabascoboy]

"Control the shopping trolley" sounds like a genuine Johnson-ism




Meanwhile I can't see anything said about Gove yet

[JM2K6]

"Control the shopping trolley" sounds like a genuine Johnson-ism




Meanwhile I can't see anything said about Gove yet

Nothing about Gove. Plenty of boosting of Sunak and Raab. It's a fairly clear gameplan. Fucking unbelievable we're essentially being locked into being governed by these arseholes.

[Line6 HXFX]

Can we not just tax the wealthy untill they just fuck off?

I mean the festival of shit they create man....

The social contract that they ripped up over the last 10 years, that alone must leave them vulnerable as fuck to us just not caring a minute of piss about them.

[SaintK]

"Control the shopping trolley" sounds like a genuine Johnson-ism




Meanwhile I can't see anything said about Gove yet

The shopping trolley is the blonde slug himself

He says the Chancellor was "at his wit's end about the shopping trolley," referring to his earlier comments describing the prime minister as a "shopping trolley" who went from one side to the other.