'Streamlining' reorganisation = reward for Assembly Government's Civil Servants

Serious questions are being asked today about a shake-up of senior civil servants within the Assembly Government that has led to more of them earning above £120,000.

Seven “director general” posts were created last year in a streamlining move aimed at cutting overall costs. But critics are unconvinced that the new arrangements are appropriate.

Concerns have also been raised about “back-up” appointments that risk eating into savings made as a result of the reorganisation.

It is understood, for example, that when Andrew Davies was Finance Minister, he resisted a request from Emyr Roberts – Director General, Public Services and Local Government Delivery – to appoint a Director of Public Services Delivery at a pay grade immediately below his own. We have now confirmed such an appointment is being made.

Meanwhile, concerns have also been raised about the general competence of civil servants.

A well-placed source said: “I have real worries about whether many of the senior civil servants we have in Wales are up to coping with primary lawmaking powers.

“It has been difficult to persuade people to go on attachment to Whitehall departments to broaden their experience. Imagine the value of spending some time working in the Treasury, for example.”

Professor Brian Morgan, of the Creative Leadership and Enterprise Centre at UWIC’s Cardiff School of Management, said: “It used to be the case that government departments had a permanent secretary with two deputy secretaries beneath them. that is obviously no longer enough for the Welsh Assembly Government.

“Now there are effectively seven deputy secretaries, all on salaries of over £120,000. In Whitehall terms, the Assembly is a small department and it makes no sense to have so many chiefs.”

Last November, the Permanent Secretary, Dame Gill Morgan, told the Institute of Welsh Affairs in an interview that she had reorganised management structure so senior civil servants working for the Assembly could communicate on equal terms with their counterparts in Whitehall departments.

Previously, there had been 16 executive members of a management board, although in addition to the Permanent Secretary only one had been designated a senior director.

Prof Morgan said: “This idea that you need to look people in the eye from a position of equal status and inflated salary is absolutely ridiculous. You gain respect by the strength of what you are saying and how you say it, not because of the status you hold. If you have to rely on some artificial status, it suggests you are not up to the job you are doing.

“The status argument can be taken further. If each director general is responsible on average for 20 senior civil servants, and they meet someone on the same pay grade in Whitehall who has 55 senior civil servants answerable to them, they are going to want more people in their empire.”
Prof Morgan said creating such a large number of directors general was a variation on Parkinson’s Law – a satirical creation which states that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

“Having a top-heavy structure like this must have an impact on morale lower down,” he said.
Asked whether he thought senior civil servants in Wales were up to running an administration with primary lawmaking powers, Prof Morgan said: “It seems to me that civil servants who have come up through the Welsh Office have not had any experience anywhere else. Often they’ve relied on Buggins’ turn for promotion. I don’t want to state categorically that they’re not up to dealing with primary powers. We will have to see.”

Professor Kevin Morgan of Cardiff University, who chaired the Yes For Wales referendum campaign in 1997, said: “There is unprecedented pressure on the public purse, with what has been referred to as two Parliaments of pain ahead of us.

“The biggest challenge of all is how to achieve sustainability and fairness in the face of a decade of austerity.

“It is quite clear there is a need in Wales for us to fully acknowledge the extent to which we have screwed up in terms of costs and structures in the public sector.

“There is really deep disquiet about the scale of local government, with 22 councils, and how we then copied that with 22 local health boards. When that reorganisation took place, chief executives and finance directors were appointed, but when the number of health boards came back down to eight, they were allowed to keep their jobs.

“For ordinary people in Wales – and I count myself among them – what has happened beggars belief. We have to get things right in the public sector.”

On the question of whether senior civil servants are up to handling primary lawmaking powers, Prof Morgan said: “Hope springs eternal. It will certainly make more exacting demands on the current structure of the Assembly Government. I’m not sure people have really thought about this in the detail we should.

“Ultimately, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.”

A spokesman for the Permanent Secretary said: “The number of directors has decreased by over 25% since the restructuring of the senior Civil Service last year. This reduction has achieved savings of over £500,000 and reflects our commitment to a structured reduction in the number of senior civil servant posts over time.

“We do intend to appoint a Director for Public Service Improvement as part of a review of the Public Services and Performance department. This position will ensure we continue to deliver the Government’s ambitious public service improvement agenda, and is particularly important given the current financial pressures facing the public sector. The creation of this position will be accompanied by a reduction of seven senior Civil Service posts as part of the departmental review. This reduction represents a further net saving to the Assembly Government of just under £100,000.

“As a dynamic organisation, there will inevitably be further internal changes as we continue to reflect and deliver government commitments. Any appointment has to be justified by a comprehensive business case, and is fully considered by the independently chaired remuneration committee.

“Our skills strategy has been rated third of all UK government departments, and we are confident that we have the skills, capability and capacity to fully support ministers in delivering their commitments to the people of Wales.”

Finally, in Wales... thanks again to a Freedom of Information request

As if by strange coincidence the expenses system for Welsh civil servants is to be reviewed to ensure it provides value for money. What good timing after a recent freedom of information request that uncovered their credit card spending.

The assembly government's top civil servant will lead the examination.

A spokesperson for Permanent Secretary Dame Gillian Morgan said the expenses of politicians and civil servants were "clearly a matter of public interest".

It was earlier revealed officials promoting Welsh business abroad claimed £750,000 on 35 corporate credit cards over the last year.

Dame Gillian's spokesperson added: "Any claim incurred on behalf of the assembly government must comply with strict authorisation and audit requirements.

"The First Minister and Deputy First Minister have discussed this matter and have asked the permanent secretary to examine the expenses system for civil servants working for the Welsh assembly government to ensure its appropriateness and to ensure transparency and continued value for money."

The quarterly expenses of the permanent secretary and director generals [what about the other hundred odd senior civil servants?] will be published soon and then be published regularly.

An independent panel has already proposed drastic reductions in the expenses Welsh assembly members can claim.

This blog has been concerned about the spending of civil servants for some time:

• Civil servants take 10 'freebies' each February 2009
• Welsh Assembly Government: Money for old rope February 2009
• Are the Senior Civil Service in Wales earning their salaries? October 2008
• Two years since Rhodri's ‘bonfire’ - Was it all worth it? August 2008
• Wales' biggest winners: Criticism of bonuses awarded to top civil servants in Wales July 2008
• Balancing the books on public finances in Wales July 2008
• Civil Service v Politicians: That old question of pay July 2008

Up in arms over selective refurbishment of office nests

Following on from past topics that seem to have gone by the wayside news comes to me that the Cathays Park refurbishment of the Welsh Assembly Government's civil service hub is stirring up a bit of resentment among the rank and file of its inhabitants.

The trade union has described the recent headlines as sensationalised and focusing on the £42million (excluding VAT)* rather than the need to take health and safety into consideration. Opposition party leaders described the announcement at the time as "... the Assembly Government feathering its own nest" and "... absolutely shocking that the Labour-Plaid government can justify spending this amount of money on refurbishing their offices."

New developments show the outrage of selected individuals that have had to put up with leaking roofs and uncomfortable working conditions for over 12 months, while discovering that a secondee to the Assembly had requested and been granted permission to refurbish their office on the same floor at a cost of nearly £5,000. Union sources are saying that they were initially told that the request had been justified on health and safety grounds, however, when they asked for copies of correspondence relating to the request - none was forthcoming from management.

* this figure doesn't include the running cost of refurbishment that has taken place on selected floors over the last four years.

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?

Welsh Assembly Government: Money for old rope

Couldn't help but post on news that has proved me, and many others right when posting back in October 2008.

The new civil service layer of Director General civil servants have now been appointed in the Welsh Assembly Government. As previously mentioned, this is part of the new Permanent Secretary's [Gillian Morgan] managment structure, which does have some merits and has seen some backing of those higher up and lower down in the Cathays Park food chain.

But of these new posts that bring an ample award of around £130,000 a year, three have rather strangely (hint of sarcasm identified) gone to internal candidates, some of who it has to be said are not exactly showered in management praise and glory. For some unknown reason a £55,000 + recruitment exercise has ended up employing three people already employed internally at the next grade down in the senior civil service [Head of Department].

One appointment does disturb me slightly.

Civil Servants are not perfect, but to appoint a man who has masterminded and single-handedly steered the staff of the Welsh Assembly Government towards a largely disappointing performance management system; the ASPB merger which led to unequal status among civil servants of the same grade; not to mention equal opportunities and other fiascos (take your pick), is largely a disgraceful act.

It is generally agreed among staff that Human Resources policy has been a disaster and particularly since 2006 - in short, a disaster since appointment. If this was a newspaper headline it would read, "Overall Head of Recruitment Gets Recruited". Surprise!

If it wasn't for my planned family holiday, this unwelcome news of neo-nepotism would have me sick to my Welsh core.

The Welsh Assembly Government has announced the appointment of new Director Generals and a Non Executive Director to its new senior management board - known as the Strategic Delivery and Performance Board.

Clive Bates (aged 47) is currently Head of the United Nations Environment Programme in Sudan and has been appointed Director General for Sustainable Futures.

Christine Daws is being promoted from her current post as Director of Finance to the Welsh Assembly Government to the new Finance Director General position.

Emyr Roberts will take up the post of Director General for Public Services and Local Government Delivery. He is currently Director of the Department for Social Justice and Local Government and has extensive experience which includes a period as Chief Executive of the Welsh European Funding Office.

Bernard Galton has been appointed as Director General for People, Places and Corporate Services following five years as Director of HR at the Welsh Assembly Government and a long career as an HR professional, primarily within the Ministry of Defence.

James Turner will replace Sir Adrian Webb as a Non Executive Director. Mr Turner has had an international business career and joined the Welsh Development Agency in the mid 1990’s as International Managing Director. Ten years ago, he established his own consultancy business undertaking board-level interim assignments and in this capacity was interim Chief Executive at the Arts Council of Wales during 2007. An experienced Non Executive Director, James Turner has served on the boards of a number of private companies and public sector organisations.

The appointments follow a tough recruitment process involving external assessors and complete the new, smaller and more focused Strategic Delivery and Performance Board which Permanent Secretary Dame Gillian Morgan announced in October 2008.

Gill Morgan said:
I’m really pleased to have completed recruitment to this new, smaller Board with the appointment of very high calibre people. I believe a smaller senior team will help us reduce complexity in the organisation and make it easier for us to join up across portfolios. Now more than ever we need to be able to support Ministers in tackling the things that make the most difference to the people of Wales.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said:
My warmest congratulations to Emyr and Bernard. Their appointments complete a line-up of strong management serving the Welsh Assembly Government through the challenging times we face.

The new Board will be in place by the beginning of April. Chaired by the Permanent Secretary, the Board will include six Director Generals (DGs), together with the Chief Executive of the NHS.

The changes will be accomplished within existing resources and there will be no additional cost to the organisation's running cost budget.

Are the Senior Civil Service in Wales earning their salaries?

This post has been in my inbox for some time. Other events have taken over and we seem to forget - far too quickly - how much our public servants earn in relation to the majority of the population. Since Amanwy has now pointed out the latest in the Assembly Government hierarchy, which is the brain-child of new Permanent Secretary Dame Gillian Morgan, I've decided to finish this post.

The Welsh Assembly Government have announced a major re-organisation at Senior level of the civil service in Cathays Park. A new layer of senior civil servants will be created in an effort to join-up government. A policy-performance-bridge between the existing heads and the Permanent Secretary. They are to be called Director General posts, with each earning a salary of £130,000 (I expect there to be a tagline of 'more available, depending on experience' added in somewhere). Expected themed responsibility will cover: Sustainable Futures; Public Services and Local Government Delivery; People, Places and Corporate Services; and Finance. Under each Director General will be the corresponding existing departments, divisions, and branches.

In an ideal world, the Assembly Government will look to outside the Assembly in order to fill these new roles, and not look to reward those that are already stagnating in their current roles within the Cathays Park-based civil service. I can only imagine how many of the existing heads will be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of promotion. This may prove to be a consolation prize for some, and only time will tell how many of them will be positioning themselves for these new roles. There are a few that had their noses put out of joint when Dame Gillian Morgan - an outsider - was put in charge back in May.

Not taking into account that dreaded word 'bonuses', the 30 highest-paid civil servants in the Welsh Assembly Government together earn at least £3.3m, the Western Mail revealed in August of this year. This new announcement is - in no doubt - partly a way to reinvigorate our perception of the civil service by bringing in 'a welcome relief' at the same time as a fresh approach, far removed from the old management style of Sir Jon Shortridge. There's no more mileage in the romantic mantra of "Don't go changing to try and please me, I love you just the way you are." Dame Gillian Morgan wants to be seen as a manager promoting something radical within the civil service - concentrating on delivery with a different approach to her predecessor, and putting to bed the theory and rumour that she's going to concentrate too much on health in Wales, given her background.

Whatever the reason, laden with good intention, some will see this as an extra layer of bureaucracy and pure empire building of old-school proportions; or even a career-laden structure to progression for senior managers within Cathays Park. I'm a healthy cynic and also believe that Dame Gillian thinks that there's too many at the top table. Weekly/monthly meetings are taken up by too many items on the agenda, and wants to keep the talking to the few. Departments are difficult to downsize, so are kept the same. The Director General 'bridges' should be able to carry forward the right messages to the top-dog in each, and via these new bridges, the message should be carried forward without fuss to the department heads below. Sadly, as noses will be put out of joint in the process, people will largely forget that those that lead the divisions will remain the same, subject to any knock-on promotion.

Being seen to look outside the Assembly and advertise externally for new talent may be seen as forward thinking, however, the wind is taken out of its sails when you find out this is not new thinking, but common public sector practice.

The salary may very well reflect the roles, but more emphasis needs to be placed on measuring whether a good job has been done in each senior civil service role. At the moment this is only carried out internally, and sometimes by the media taking pot shots - occasionally in the dark.

The obligatory public relations guff that follows the installment of these new top-dogs will soon disappear, and when the air clears, all we're left with is a layer of 'strategic geniuses' that, in time, turn out to be another layer in the silo that make little difference to policy ideas and performance when those that command the middle ranking troops remain the same.

The data shows top civil servants continue to earn significantly more than the Assembly Government Ministers responsible for policy.

The First Minister receives £78,355 on top of a basic AM’s salary of £50,692. Cabinet members are paid a top-up of £40,645.

Corin Taylor of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “If you’re spending a great deal of taxpayers’ money you should be accountable for what you do and how you are remunerated. If people are doing a good job and their details are out in the open we won’t begrudge them.”

Ten of the 30 civil servants with the largest salaries work in health divisions:

At the top of the list

1. Dame Gillian Morgan, the Permanent Secretary (between £160,000 and £165,000)

2. Ann Lloyd, Chief Executive of NHS Wales (between £160,000 and £165,000)

3. Dr Tony Jewell, Chief Medical Officer (between £155,000 and £160,000)

4. Gareth Hall, Director of the Department for the Economy and Transport - former WDA (between £135,000 and £140,000)

5. Dr Gwyn Thomas, who, as director of Informing Healthcare, is charged with encouraging better use of information in the NHS.

6. Jeff Buggle (£130,000- £135,000) and Bob Hudson (£120,000-£125,000) – both directors in the department for health and social services.

8. Dr Christine Daws Finance Director (between £115,000 and £120,000)

9. Simon Dean, Director of Service Delivery and Performance Management, Health and Social Services Department. (between £115,000 and £120,000)

10. Derek Griffin, Chief Executive of CAFCASS Cymru, the body which looks after the interests of children involved in family law proceedings (between £115,000 and £120,000)

11. Bernard Galton, HR Director (between £110,000 and £115,000)

12. Martin Sykes, Chief Executive of Value Wales (between £110,000 and £115,000)
13. Richard Davies, Director of the Department for Public Services and Performance, Mike Hopkins, head of the lifelong learning and providers division, and Dr Jane Wilkinson, deputy chief medical officer, are all paid between £105,000 and £110,000.

Of the next 15 top-paid officials, six are on between £100,000 and £105,000, and the remaining nine, between £95,000 and £100,000.

Wales' biggest winners: Criticism of bonuses awarded to top civil servants in Wales

Joining in with the criticism of Senior Civil Servant bonuses on this blog, the Welsh Conservatives have criticised bonuses awarded to the Assembly's top civil servants.

Miss Wagstaff Presents:

• Civil Service v Politicians: That old question of pay 2nd July 2008
• Education Director Optimistic on Results 18th January 2008
• Education: When do we get down to business? 16th January 2008
• Assembly Government Spin Doctors Costing Taxpayers £438k 11th January 2008
• Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Assembly Government 1st January 2008
• Pay and pension can be a lottery 19th November 2007
  

The BBC have reported (also covered in the Western Mail) that bonuses to top civil servants in Wales have risen 154% in the past five years, according to figures obtained by the Conservatives. They show senior assembly government staff received more than £686,000 last year, compared to £270,000 in 2003/04.

The Tories said it showed a "money for nothing culture" in Cardiff Bay.

But the assembly government said it did not decide bonuses. The First Division Association union said only staff who achieve their objectives received them. Meanwhile, the assembly government defended spending more than £48,000 on office plants, saying they helped to "lower employee turnover rates" and improve air quality.

Conservatives called for a review of senior staff salaries after their written questions revealed details of the highest earners among administration senior staff.

The figures show overall assembly government staffing costs for 2006/7 were just over £224m, with staffing levels of 6,230 at 31 January this year.

The latest official statistics show that in 2005-06 the average (mean) pre-tax income in Wales was just £20,000.

The Conservatives calculate that out of a total Assembly Government staff of 6,230, 28 earn in excess of £100,000, 23 between £80,000 and £90,000, 51 between £70,000 and £80,000, 171 between £60,000 and £70,000, and 499 between £50,000 and £60,000.

The bonuses were defended by the FDA, the union for senior civil servants.

Opposition leader Nick Bourne said:

I find it incredible that the Labour-Plaid government has the brass neck to award staff such whopping bonuses when it has been failing on so many fronts over the last 12 months. Year after year Rhodri Morgan has spent more taxpayers' money on spin, presentation, advisers, and bureaucracy. This is money which should go on health, education and local government, not to fund an administration whose policies suffocate choice, enterprise and innovation.

Alun Cairns AM said:

Families across Wales who are struggling to make ends meet with stagnant earnings and rising living costs will be appalled by these figures. Massive amounts of public money are being used to swell the bank accounts of senior civil servants at a time when the Government is urging pay restraint.

A Welsh Assembly Government spokersperson said:

These very senior staff form part of the senior civil service and their pay and bonus policies are determined by the Treasury and Cabinet Office, not by the assembly government or other devolved administrations. To attract and retain high calibre staff we need to reflect market values. But recent senior staff review board findings show that senior civil service salaries have fallen behind those in other areas of the public sector, notably NHS and local government.

Bonus payments are not permanent and are non-pensionable. In effect, base pay is being held down in favour of one-off payments that do not affect future levels of pay or pension. *

Paul Neilson, First Division Association's national officer for Wales, said:

Far from being a 'money for nothing culture', those who do not achieve their objectives will not get any pay increases.

* That doesn't cause too much discomfort when they earn in excess of £50,000 per annum, without bonuses.