Civil servants take 10 'freebies' each

The Daily Telegraph reports that figures to be disclosed today will show that supposedly impartial mandarins, many in charge of departments with large Whitehall budgets, have repeatedly been entertained by firms.

The Daily Telegraph has been told that around 180 civil servants will be named in a list published today. It will detail approximately 1,800 items in total that have been declared by Whitehall employees - an average of 10 trips for each official.

The hospitality mainly covers lunches, dinners and receptions. However, there is also more lavish entertainment including high-profile international rugby matches and other sporting events.

Invites to other exclusive occasions, like the opera and the Chelsea Flower Show, that make up the circuit of hospitality events, was also accepted.

Among those who have been offering the "freebies" were banks, financial consultancies and news organisations.

It comes as ministers seek to clamp down on civil servants who accept hospitality from lobbyists and companies seeking to influence legislation. The recent "Lords for hire" scandal has heightened the need for tighter control among those in Whitehall and Westminster.

In view of Wales being firmly part of the UK and its public servants largely forming part of the UK public sector/civil service, I wonder if any of the 'Cathays Park hundreds' would like to come clean as they form part of the Home Civil Service?

Priority Talent Pool not just a thing of the past

TAXPAYERS are bankrolling an invisible army of civil servants in Whitehall who have no jobs but still draw a salary.

Up to £1million a week is spent supporting the ghost jobs of more than 1,700 redundant workers who are placed in a Priority Talent Pool and keep getting paid until a plum new post comes up.

Despite Gordon Brown’s declaration of war on Whitehall waste the number of phantom employees has trebled in a year, pushing the total annual bill for taxpayers to £50million.

The admission from ministers comes as Britain slides into recession, thousands of workers in the private sector are being laid off every week and millions more are worried about their jobs.

Give the Assembly Government some credit where it's due with its 'first-to-do' culture. They were the first to do this. At least the UK Government has the decency to call it a 'Priority Talent Pool' and not just a 'Central Postings Pool'. The Assembly could learn a little from positive spin, but not much.

Switzerland is known for chocolate, cheese, taxation, and banking

In light of the Icelandic issue, Nick Bourne AM recalls a question from a recent meeting of the Assembly Finance Committee that was raised by Labour AM Huw Lewis.

"Astoundingly, though money tends to be drawn down from Whitehall, neither the minister nor his officials did not know in response to questions from Huw Lewis where WAG banked nor how much was held in the accounts - reassuring isn’t it?"

This has unexpectedly prompted Rhodri Morgan to take action, and could it be the reason why he's taken a trip to Switzerland days before an All-Wales economic summit meeting? After all, he doesn't seem to be there for the joyous singing of hymns.

What's that pin number again?

Free drugs don't work

Welsh Conservative Glyn Davies hinted that something big was going to be covered in the London-based media this weekend, that will be so juicy that it will run for a week. He wasn't wrong.

Today, he gives us his take on the story that has been published by a former Welsh-based journalist in the News of the World. Yes, I know it's the News of the World, but this is a warning that plenty in Wales have been aware of for some time. Described by many as an absolute disaster in policy making, the story has also been covered recently in the Welsh press. This new article takes it a step further - pulling the plug on free prescriptions.

I've said it once, so I may as well say it again. The Welsh Assembly Gimmick Government's main gimmick - in order to make it stand out from Westminster - isn't quite going to plan. We all know that the majority of those that need a regular prescription, or are frequent users of the service, were entitled to free prescriptions under the old system. However, if something is FREE then it's open to abuse from others.

People tend not to think twice when it comes to taking items when free of charge. After all, it's only human nature. This is why it needs to end, or at the very least a nominal charge be placed on prescriptions (except for those covered under the old system). Not sure how the coalition partner is going to handle this challenging part to collective responsibility. They supported the policy in the first place with little reservation, and we all should be in agreement that it's going to be an interesting week in the Senedd. The usual arguments will be made, and what are the odds on the government dismissing the idea of 'pulling the plug' at first, only to change their mind at a more suitable date?

If only we could put an end to the freebie and first-to-do culture of the Assembly Government. More thought is needed when it comes to policy ideas, not 'What would make us look good in the public eye and provide a headline grabber that will run all term?'.

Welsh End Free NHS Drugs

HEALTH chiefs are set to pill the plug on free prescriptions in Wales—because they are too EXPENSIVE.

The free-for-all policy was only brought in by the Welsh Assembly 18 months ago—but has cost far MORE than the anticipated £30MILLION.

Doctors have been dishing out prescriptions for normal over-the-counter products such as vaseline, milk of magnesia and aspirin. And thousands of English people have also taken advantage of the scheme by registering with Welsh doctors.

Figures this year showed there were 100,000 more people on Welsh GPs’ lists than actually lived in the country. It has all led to the NHS there being overwhelmed by the spiralling bill for the drugs, with it draining resources from the rest of the health budget.

The Assembly has admitted that it has no idea how much it will have to shell out this year—but it’s expected to be MILLIONS more than last year.

The crisis will spark fears in Scotland and Northern Ireland over their own plans to scrap charges.

Scotland is phasing them out by 2011, and Northern Ireland last week announced it would cut charges before abolishing them in 2010.

That would leave England as the only part of the UK where patients would still have to pay. A senior Whitehall source said: “In Wales they are running out of money for this and can’t continue.

“They are going to have to pull the plug on it. It’s the last thing anyone wants to do but the financial realities are so serious that they’re having to consider it.”

Would the "Welsh Way" be the right way?

Devolution brought about the ability to do things the "Welsh Way"; making the Assembly's strategy for public services in Wales, (formulated through 'Making the Connections' and refined by the 'Beecham Report'), markedly different to the approach adopted by the Westminster Government.

However, on the question of civil service reform, the situation is more complex. In theory Assembly staff matters are devolved to the First Minister and Permanent Secretary. In reality, the all pervading influence of Whitehall, through the Cabinet Office and Treasury, casts a dark shadow over every decision made in Cardiff Bay.

To illustrate this point: in 2004 Gordon Brown made his pre-election announcement to axe 104,000 Civil service jobs. 20,000 of these were to be made in the devolved administrations, but neither Rhodri Morgan (First Minister) nor Sue Essex (Minister for Finance, Local Government & Public Services) were consulted. In other words, devolution seems to be lost on the mandarins and politicians in Whitehall when it comes to staffing matters.

Herein lies the danger.

Put bluntly; the non-devolved Civil Service is in crisis through a combination of job cuts, privatisation and an over reliance on obscenely expensive management consultants. Staff morale has never been lower.

The question to be asked is; do the Assembly's Senior Civil Service have the backbone to stand up to their London bosses in rejecting policies such as outsourcing and performance related pay?

They must insist on doing things the 'Welsh Way'. Or is Cathays Park just an outpost of Whitehall?

[Source: PCS]

Civil Servant blogging days may be numbered

A cheeky female civil servant blogger, who has been ridiculing Cabinet members including Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, and taking the mickey out of civil service mandarins, right up to Cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell, appears to have gone to ground after the Sunday Times reported that the hunt for her was on in Whitehall. Her blog, The Civil Serf, has been swiftly taken down.


The Serf, who has been blogging with impunity for four months, claimed to be a 33-year-old who was "just senior enough" in her department to allow her to know what's going on though "not senior enough to attract suspicion".

In a recent blog, she claimed that Alistair Darling was desperate to use his first Budget, coming up on Wednesday, to garner "a cheap headline" even if it meant announcing unaffordable new measures. "High up on the list will be both child poverty and incapability benefit," she wrote.

She nicknames Gordon Brown 'Velcro' because of the many negative stories that have stuck to him. But she reserves her sharpest barbs for Whitehall culture and personnel. "I've received a meeting request that probably deserves a mention in the Guinness Book of Records," she writes. "It is for something called the 'People Action Team' (don't ask) and it is scheduled to last a staggering seven hours... Truly there is no God."

She has also complained about drunken advances from the opposite sex. "Trapped" at a conference in Brighton, she wrote, "I was being chased about by some bloke from the Foreign Office who wouldn't listen to me saying I'm engaged - yuk!"

She also tells how her colleagues are frequently "under-utilised", saying: "I know two people within eight desks of me whose jobs could be deleted overnight with no discernible impact on our performance."

Because of various mentions of Peter Hain before he stood down as Work and Pensions Secretary, it is thought the culprit may work in that department. A source told the Sunday Times that while no one has yet been disciplined, there were suspicions about the blogger's identity.

Update 10 March 2008, 16:39

1. Civil servants to get blog and social networking advice (BBC link)
2. There's a curious comment on this post that suggests, "The first civil servant blogger to be sacked was in Wales, however, no one knows his/her name."

Ieuan Wyn Jones: Fill in the blanks

A short post today on Ieuan Wyn Jones and the new Welsh Secretary, Paul Murphy, and what may or may not be concerns for Plaid Cymru.

You can either read what was written in the papers or fill in the blanks yourself:

Smooth the progress - a proper relationship - voted in favour - to move forward - dynamic - the reality is - allows for a referendum - trigger - the bread-and-butter issue.

I was waiting for a 'but let me make this perfectly clear' - sadly - it didn't materialise.

Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Assembly Government

Just in case some of you were thinking of applying as the deadline is upon us.

PERMANENT SECRETARY TO THE WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT

These notes provide candidates with information on the above appointment. Paragraphs 16 to 22 give information on how to apply. Please note that applications need to be received at the address, email or fax number given in paragraph 17 by 10 January not later than noon.

Background
1. The Welsh Assembly Government is the devolved government for Wales, with wide-ranging responsibilities for developing policy and putting it into practice. Its law-making powers, originally bestowed by the Government of Wales Act 1999, have recently been enhanced (by the Government of Wales Act 2006). Its four priorities are currently: helping more people into jobs; improving health; developing strong and safe communities; and creating better jobs and skills. The list of policy areas for which the Welsh Assembly Government is responsible is at Annex A.
2. The First Minister of Wales is the Rt. Hon. Rhodri Morgan AM and he has appointed 8 Welsh Ministers to serve in his Cabinet, which is the main decision making body of the Welsh Assembly Government.
3. Assembly Government Ministers are supported by a workforce of over 6,000 civil servants, just over half of whom are located in Cardiff with the remainder based in 80 or so Assembly Government offices across Wales and elsewhere. Assembly Government civil servants, led by the Permanent Secretary, are accountable to Assembly Government Ministers who are in turn accountable to the National Assembly for Wales; this is the legislative body, which comprises 60 elected Members and is based in Cardiff.
4. The Welsh Assembly Government is one of the largest public sector bodies in Wales, with an annual budget of over £14 billion. It is a young organisation which is maturing fast following the establishment of devolved government in Wales in 1999. It is at the leading edge of reform of the Welsh public sector, with the aim of delivering better integrated and more responsive services for the people of Wales.
5. The Welsh Assembly Government comprises eight Policy Departments and five Corporate Departments. The Heads of Department form the core of the organisation’s Management Board, chaired by the Permanent Secretary, which also includes non-executive Directors – currently two, with up to two more being sought through open competition to take up post early in 2008.
6. Over half of the staff is located in Cardiff, with the other 45% in over 80 Assembly Government offices around Wales and further afield. By 2010, over 50% of staff will be working outside Cardiff. There is a target for securing recurrent administrative efficiency savings of £10.6m for 2007-08, increasing to £12m in 2008-09.
7. The people of Wales, and their government, face unprecedented challenges. The programme of government set out in One Wales: A progressive agenda for the government of Wales meets these challenges head on. It offers a progressive agenda for improving the quality of life of people in all of Wales’s communities, from all walks of life, and especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. The ambition is no less than to transform Wales into a self-confident, prosperous, healthy nation and society, which is fair to all.
8. Further information is available on the website.

The role
9. The key elements of the role of Permanent Secretary are:
· chief policy adviser to the First Minister and the Assembly Government Cabinet;
· Principal Accounting Officer, accountable to the National Assembly for Wales for Assembly Government expenditure;
· head of the Assembly Government civil service, with leadership responsibility for the organisation and for its corporate strategic direction, priorities and results; and
· an active role in the corporate leadership of the UK-wide civil service, through membership of the Civil Service Management Group and other corporate contributions.
10. The functions and responsibilities of the job include:
· overseeing the provision of all strategic advice to the First Minister and the Assembly Government Cabinet;
· leading and driving internal business change, through defining corporate strategic aims and setting priorities for improving the organisation’s capacity to deliver Assembly Government policies;
· allocating and managing financial and staff resources in line with Assembly Government priorities;
· assessing and managing strategic risk, and overseeing a transparent system of prudent and effective controls;
· motivating and developing a large senior management team, and providing strategic and personal leadership to the wider Senior Civil Service management team (of around 140 people);
· protecting and enhancing the organisation’s reputation for administration and delivery, and aspiring to set the standard for the public service in Wales; and
· developing and managing effective relationships with the Assembly Government Cabinet, the Assembly, Whitehall and the Devolved Administrations, key partners and stakeholders, and others.

The person
11. The successful candidate should ideally possess the following qualities and characteristics:
· Leadership: a strong track record of successfully driving change and delivery in a complex and demanding environment;
· Political awareness: a thorough understanding of the constitutional and political context within which the Welsh Assembly Government operates, together with the ability to identify and defuse potentially sensitive issues and to operate effectively in a highly transparent environment;
· Determination and personal resilience: the capacity to find a way through difficulties and to persevere in the face of criticism, including criticism in the media/public domain;
· Communication: the ability to articulate clear messages to staff, partners and stakeholders, and to manage complex relationships across boundaries;
· Personal effectiveness: the ability to inspire and motivate through personal example, to set and uphold standards, and to see through tough decisions when necessary;
· Financial Management: an understanding of what it means to be personally responsible for a large and complex budget, and for maintaining strong governance arrangements;
· Knowledge of Wales: an excellent appreciation of the policy issues facing Wales and a sensitive understanding of what matters to the people of Wales;
· Welsh language skills: experience of operating in a bilingual environment could be an advantage; as could the ability to speak Welsh although this is not essential.

Terms and conditions of employment
12. This is a permanent appointment under normal Civil Service terms. An attractive package will be offered. The current minimum is £148,841 and the starting salary will be set with the agreement of the independent Permanent Secretaries Remuneration Committee, taking account of experience and relativity to other similar Permanent Secretary posts. The salary will be reviewed annually by the independent committee. Like others at this level the appointee will be eligible for a non-consolidated bonus depending on performance against their specific delivery objectives. There is an annual leave allowance of 30 days, plus 8 days’ bank holiday and 2.5 privilege days taken at fixed times of the year.
13. The retirement age for the Civil Service is currently 65. Unless you decide otherwise, pension benefits are provided under the Civil Service Pension Scheme. The headquarters of the Welsh Assembly Government is in central Cardiff and relocation expenses may be available if you have to move to take up the appointment.

Equality and Diversity
14. We are committed to supporting the principle that everybody should have the same opportunities for employment, development and progression. This should be based on their ability, competence and suitability for the job.This means that no applicant or employee should receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of their race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, religion, family or domestic responsibilities, or working patterns. Also, nobody should be disadvantaged by any specific conditions or requirements, unless it can be justified that these could affect their ability to do the job.

Speaking with a representative of the so-called Welsh Civil Service yesterday morning, I was reminded that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. Unless there happens to be an impressive person of Welsh descent roaming the corridors of Whitehall in search of what was previously seen in HR terms as a stepping stone to higher office.

It's no job for a lady - or should that read - rarely a job for a lady. Rachel Lomax, Sir Jon Shortridge's predecessor at the former Welsh Office remains the only woman to head-up the 'Wales Department' in its various guises. As the New Year's Honours list is still topical - it reminds me that she still remains the only Permanent Secretary of that department (1996-1999) not to have been given a titular honour.