*UKHotViewsExtra* Government productivity drive: Civil Service headcount focus

A Government productivity drive has been on the cards for a while. Indeed, at the beginning of the summer, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, announced a Productivity Review, being led by Chief Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen.

Expected in the autumn (so any time from now), it has yet to be published. However, at the Conservative Party Conference being held in Manchester, which has so far been dominated by the future of HS2, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is likely to use the final day of the conference to announce some initial steps.

On Tuesday, the Government released a press release entitled, “the Chancellor has today announced an immediate cap on civil service headcount across Whitehall to stop any further expansion, increase efficiencies and boost productivity”.

At the conference, he is likely to use such an announcement to show that he is willing to make changes. He has said that he is determined to end the general public’s exhaustion with politics, which is driven by the fact politician’s say things but “nothing ever changes”. He is pitching himself as a radical reformer.

The steps outlined in Tuesday’s release are threefold. You can read more on our take on the announcements in UKHotViewsExtra here. If you are not yet a subscriber - or are unsure if your organisation has a corporate subscription, please contact Deb Seth.

(Photo used under the Open Government Licence V3.0)

Posted by Georgina O'Toole at '11:48' - Tagged: policy   government   productivity   public+sector   central+government   pursuingproductivity