Les Ebdon, vice-chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, is the nominee of Business Secretary, Vince Cable. The cross-party BIS select committee interviewed Ebdon and rejected his appointment with a 4-2 division on clear party lines: four Conservatives objected to Ebdon’s appointment and two Labour members supported it (the Liberal Democrat member and two others...
Cameron’s resistance to reshuffle is in part a reaction to the supposed shuffle-fever of Tony Blair – a reason for resistance in the resignation of Liam Fox. And indeed, the problem of ministerial churn is something that the Institute for Government has highlighted. However, this does beg the question of whether Blair was as...
The Civil Service today, unlike other private or public sector entities, must now meet the demand for four contrasting skill sets simultaneously. The well established skills of policy advice to Ministers, management of public services, and contracting, outsourcing and procurement must be practiced in conjunction with the new skills which arise from the demands...
There is a lot of change in Whitehall. The parting of the old guard means that over half of the permanent secretaries in charge of departments were not in post before the election. The civil service has a new and differently organised leadership (though the merger of the Permanent Secretary at No.10 post with...
Asking the general public for their views isn’t normally top of the to-do list in Whitehall. Of course it does have to happen, and there is a time-honoured process: green papers, white papers, calls for evidence and 12-week windows to respond. Times are, however, changing. Back in 2006, the then Labour administration launched the...
