This morning Francis Maude and I sent a letter to all civil servants about the review of the first year of the Civil Service Reform Plan which is republished below. As it mentions at the bottom, I will be hosting a Twitter Q&A next Tuesday at 13.30 so if you have any burning questions just use the hashtag #asksirbob on the day or email your brief questions in advance to asksirbob@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk
Dear colleague,
Today we have published a review of the first year of the Civil Service Reform Plan which details progress to date.
The Plan, published in June last year, outlines our ambition to make the Civil Service more open, accountable, unified and skilled.
A lot of hard work has taken place over the past year. Advances have been made in some areas but in others more needs to be done and we will redouble our efforts. Just last week we were both at Be Exceptional, held over three days in Gateshead, London and Bristol, and witnessed the tremendous positive energy as thousands of civil servants met to demonstrate some of the outstanding work underway as part of Civil Service Reform.
But, as we move forward, we need to increase the pace and momentum around reform and so, today, we have announced steps to accelerate progress especially around accountability and improving the way we work together. Read the report on the CSR website.
There are steps you can take too. Think about what you can do to improve your skills in the four priority skills areas outlined in the Capabilities Plan: digital, commercial, project management and leadership of change. Use the ‘Civil Service Competency self-assessment tool’ on the Civil Service Learning website to help you understand where you need to develop and find advice about what learning opportunities could help and think about how you will use your 5 days a year for learning and development.
In return we will ensure that the Civil Service remains a good employer. We have already introduced a fairer, more consistent approach to performance management and promotion across the Civil Service. And work is underway to improve working environments - with modern workplaces and substantially improved IT tools enabling flexible working and streamlined, less burdensome security requirements
If you’ve got any questions about the Civil Service Reform Plan or the announcements today, please speak to the SCS in your unit who will be able to speak to you about this in more detail.
You can also take part in a live Twitter Q&A on Tuesday 16 July 1.30 – 2.15pm. Either use the hashtag #asksirbob on the day or submit your short questions in advance by Monday at 2pm to asksirbob@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk. You could ask about learning and development, performance management, open policy-making or any other burning questions on Civil Service Reform.
Yours sincerely,
Francis Maude Bob Kerslake