LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
History of PASC: *
The Public Administration Select Committee, PASC, was set up in
1997, merging the Committee on Parliamentary Commissioner
for Administration and the Public Services Committee.
There are 11 Members in total, in party proportion – so there are
currently 5 Conservative, 5 Labour and 1 Liberal Democrat.
The Chair is elected by the whole House of Commons in a secret
ballot, in June 2010 in my case. Other Members are nominated by
their parties following internal elections and their appointments
are confirmed by the House.
PASC has a broad, cross-departmental remit, examining the
quality and standards of administration within the Civil Service,
the Cabinet Office and scrutinising the reports of the Ombudsman.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
PASC’s remit *
According to House of Commons Standing Order No. 146, the role
of PASC is...
“to examine the reports of the Parliamentary Commissioner for
Administration and the Health Service Commissioner for
England” (i.e. the ‘Ombudsman’)
“and matters in connection therewith”
And...
“to consider matters relating to the quality and standards of
administration provided by civil service departments”
“and other matters relating to the civil service”
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
PASC’s remit covers: *
1.
Quality and standards of administration in the civil service
Including:
- Public service delivery, both in the civil service and
beyond (often linked to Ombudsman findings)
- Systemic HR issues
- Macro’ performance management, such as the use of
targets
- Responses to specific incidents, such as data loss
2.
Other civil service issues
These have included:
o the role of special advisers
o Government use of IT
o the need for a Civil Service Act
3.
Cabinet Office policy responsibilities
Including:
o Charities and the voluntary sector
o Quangos
o Public appointments
o Ethical regulation for government and public life more
widely
o Official statistics
4.
Ombudsman reports
 on specific issues where the Government is unwilling to
remedy injustice
 on general ‘quality of administration’ issues
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
2010-2015 Parliament workstreams:
Who does UK National Strategy? *
Our first major inquiry of this Parliament was into the subject of
‘Who does UK national strategy?’
Sadly, the answer we received to our question was ‘no-one’.
The central contention of our first Report is that Government has
lost the capacity to think strategically. We argued that the
Government needs to reclaim the art of creating “national
strategy” which should encompass all areas of Government
activity and not focus just on national security.
PASC argued that clear strategic leadership is needed to maintain
British interests in an increasingly multi-polar and fast changing
world. We have concerns about Whitehall’s capacity to provide
this.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
Strategic Thinking in Government *
A follow-up inquiry into ‘Strategic Thinking in Government’ was
launched last September and is currently taking oral evidence.
This inquiry is examining how government should act
strategically in a complex and uncertain world and in particular
considering how government should understand and define the
national interest. We are examining:
 how this is linked to policy-making,
 international examples of strategic policy-making;
 lessons to be learnt from how businesses do strategic
thinking,
 and the role of social media and activities such as crowd
sourcing in developing strategy and understanding the
national interest.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
‘Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango State?’ *
At the start of the Parliament, PASC also scrutinised the work of
the Government to fulfil the commitment in the Coalition
Agreement to "reduce the number and cost of quangos."
PASC argued in its report ‘Smaller Government: Shrinking the
Quango State?’ that the so-called ‘bonfire of the quangos’
represented “a missed opportunity”.
We found that the tests used to evaluate public bodies and
whether they should be abolished were "hopelessly unclear" and
the process was "rushed and poorly handled".
The Government should have reassessed what function public
bodies are needed to perform and transferred many more of
these activities to charities and mutuals. Doing so would have
helped explain more clearly its vision for a Big Society, giving
these organisations the ability to provide more government
services.
It should also have used the review to take control of some
activities of public bodies that provide questionable benefit to the
taxpayer, most notably the use of public funds for lobbying and
public relations campaigns”.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
Smaller Government: what do ministers do? *
Another Early report was from PASC was also on the theme of
‘Smaller Government; What do ministers do?’
Following the decision to cut the number of MPs in the House of
Commons from 650 to 600 the Public Administration Select
Committee examined the role and responsibilities of ministers to
see if there was scope for reductions there too.
PASC recommends three steps which the Government should
take:
1. The current legal cap on the number of paid ministers
should set the absolute limit;
2. The legal limit on the number of ministers in the
Commons should be cut by eight, in line with the
reduction in the number of MPs just enacted;
3. The number of PPSs should be limited to one per
department—a reduction of 26.
The Committee believes it should ultimately be possible to cut the
number of ministers to a total of 80, shared between the
Commons and the Lords, as recommended by PASC in the
previous Parliament.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
Change in Government: The Agenda for Leadership *
Civil Service reform was the topic of a major inquiry for the
Committee last year, following the Prime Minister’s promise to
“turn government on its head; taking power away from Whitehall
and putting it into the hands of people and communities.”
We took extensive evidence from academics, Permanent
Secretaries, former Cabinet Secretaries, and expert commentators
on the Civil Service. We found that:
 Unless we achieve a more innovative and entrepreneurial
Civil Service, the Government’s flagship policies will be left
high and dry.
 The Civil Service needs a new capability: the capability to
engage with voluntary and private sector organisations to
contract and commission public services. Development here
is vital: it will not just happen.
 Reform will not just happen. We need structural
organisational reform, properly thought through and
planned across all departments.
 There is a worrying lack of detail in the Government’s Civil
Service 2020 document about how its objectives would be
achieved.
 July’s Open Public Services White Paper seemed devoid of
content on Civil Service reform.
 There is no substitute for a world-class centre of
government which can co-ordinate, deliver and sustain a
world-class reform throughout the Civil Service.
Frankly, we do not think the detail so far provided on this
administration’s plans for Civil Service reform is adequate.
Our message to Francis Maude is that he must take a lead on the
process of Civil Service reform, or the Government’s programme
will be held back by inertia.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
Leadership of change: new arrangements for the roles of the Head
of the Civil Service and the Cabinet Secretary *
We recently launched an inquiry when the retirement of the Head
of the Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus (now Lord)
O'Donnell and significant changes to the staffing at the top of the
Civil Service were announced. The roles of Cabinet Secretary and
Head of the Civil Service have now been separated. The new Head
of the Civil Service is Sir Bob Kerslake, who is taking on this role
while continuing to be Permanent Secretary at the Department
for Communities and Local Government.
We warn that the new arrangements “could lead to weaker
leadership and disperse power at a critical time of change in
government” and that they will not succeed unless the two roles
have equal power and status. They must both attend Cabinet on
equal terms and both must have access to the Prime Minister and
the authority “to speak truth unto power”.
We are also not convinced that the role of Head of the Civil
Service can be combined with that of a permanent secretary in a
major government department.
There is a strong case for a full-time Head of the Civil Service.
We have proposed a review to assess whether it would be
appropriate to combine the roles of Permanent Secretary of the
Cabinet Office and Head of the Civil Service in one post. This
would place responsibility for Civil Service reform solely with one
individual in the stronger centre of government which we
consider is needed to drive Civil Service reform.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
Government and IT- "A Recipe For Rip-Offs": Time For A New
Approach *
In a rather different area, PASC published a report last July on the
Government’s use of IT. We revealed major flaws in Government
procurement processes, which we argued created a “recipe for
rip-offs”.
PASC found that the Government is over-reliant on large
contractors for its IT needs and has a serious lack of in-house
skills: as a result IT procurement too often resulted in late, over
budget IT systems that are not fit for purpose.
We heard truly worrying accounts about the amount of money
successive Governments have wasted on failed IT projects.
The Government itself has said that it is overly reliant on an
“oligopoly” of suppliers; some witnesses went further and
described the situation as a ‘cartel.’ Whatever we call it, it has led
to an inexcusable situation that sees governments waste an
obscene amount of public money.”
Change required across government to achieve the Government’s
own aims of becoming an “intelligent” customer.
We expect to consider the issue of ‘legacy systems’ in government
IT at a later date.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
The Big Society *
Another huge area for PASC has been the Big Society. The Office
for Civil Society is in the Cabinet Office, so this falls within our
remit. Our inquiry therefore focused on the role of the Civil
Service in implementing the Big Society.
The project by its very nature requires substantial change in
Whitehall and to the nature of government. It represents a whole
new way of ‘doing Government’. Without a coherent
implementation plan, there is confusion over message, whilst
smaller charities face barriers in contracting and commissioning
policies. We found that the government’s approach for the Big
Society doesn't do enough to help 'the little society'.
The Government must address the barriers smaller charities
experience in the contracting and commissioning system, which
means developing a plan to address roles, tasks, responsibilities
and skills in Whitehall departments.
PASC concludes there are two major practical steps Government
must take:
1. Create a single Big Society Minister, who has a crosscutting brief, to help other Ministers to drive through this
agenda once they begin reporting progress against the
aims of Open Public Services White Paper, from April
2012.
2. Implement an impact assessment, to be applied to every
Government policy, statutory instrument, and new Bill,
which answers the simple question: “what substantively
will this do to build social capital, people power, and
social entrepreneurs?
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
Government use of statistics and the UK Statistics Authority *
Another important role of the Committee is oversight of the work
of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Committee takes seriously the necessity for official statistics
to be produced and presented to the highest standards of
independence and integrity.
During the selection process for a new chair of UKSA last year, the
Minister for the Cabinet Office indicated that he envisaged a
greater role for this Committee. He subsequently sought the
Committee’s view on the composition of the selection panel, the
remuneration to be offered for the post, and the person
specification and job description.
We welcomed the fresh approach taken by the Minister to the
selection process for this important and independent post and
appreciated the constructive approach taken to consultation and
engagement with the Committee.
We have appointed a specialist adviser on statistical matters and
intend to take a greater role in scrutinising the use of statistics by
government departments.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
The work of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman *
One of PASC’s predecessor committees was set up with the sole
remit of scrutinising the Parliamentary Commissioner for
Standards (now the Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudsman).
Legislation enables the Ombudsman to publish special reports to
Parliament in cases where an injustice has not been, or will not
be, remedied.
PASC holds a regular annual session in the Autumn to scrutinise
the Ombudsman’s work.
The Committee tends to act as the Ombudsman’s “critical friend” not a sponsor. PASC is a strong supporter of the office of the
Ombudsman and especially the work of the present Ombudsman
in identifying and challenging maladministration in the public
services.
Improved complaint handling must be part of this process of
public sector reform: there is no point in seeking to improve
services for the public without improving the feedback
mechanisms, whereby the public can comment on and, if
necessary, complain about, these services.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
The work of the Commissioner for Public Appointments and First
Civil Service Commissioner (jointly held by Sir David Normington)
*
PASC also has oversight of the work of the Commissioner for
Public Appointments and First Civil Service Commissioner, posts
jointly held by Sir David Normington.
We welcomed the broad thrust of Sir David Normington's
proposed reforms to the system of public appointment to
streamline the existing Code for Public Appointments and to
adopt a lighter touch in regulating the public appointments
process. The committee particularly supports his commitment to
broadening genuine diversity in public appointments.
However, the Government’s “arbitrary” cap on pay for such
appointments, fixed to the Ministerial salary of the Prime Minister
(£142,500), risks discouraging the recruitment and retention of
the best talent. The government should implement a proper
system to assess what salaries should be paid, in line with the
report of Will Hutton’s review of fair pay in the public sector. The
Government should also reduce dependency on outside ‘headhunter’ firms to cut the costs of recruitment, by developing
Whitehall's in-house recruitment expertise to reduce dependence.
We have also recommended that the Commissioner be given a
new remit to review the Departments' appraisal systems, to
ensure that public appointees are performing, and if they are not,
to ensure they are not just routinely re-appointed.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
The Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council: *
PASC undertook a short inquiry in autumn 2011 into the
Government’s plans for future oversight of the administrative
justice system. This inquiry follows the Government’s
announcement that it plans to abolish the Administrative Justice
and Tribunals Council (AJTC) as part of its programme of reform
of public bodies.
“Administrative justice” includes the procedures used by public
authorities for making decisions in relation to individual people,
the law that regulates decision-making, and the systems (such as
the various tribunals and ombudsmen) that enable people to
challenge these decisions. The statutory functions of the AJTC
include keeping the system under review and considering ways to
make the system accessible, fair and efficient.
We expect to publish our report on this subject shortly.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
The work of the Business Appointment Rules and the Advisory
Committee on Business Appointments (the ‘revolving door’
between business and Whitehall) *
One of our current inquiries is into Business Appointment Rules
and the work of the Advisory Committee on Business
Appointments (ACoBA). This is the question of the so-called
‘revolving door’ between business and Whitehall.
PASC have launched a new inquiry into this which is due to start
taking oral evidence in March.
The inquiry is timely for a number of reasons, as there are a
number of factors which are likely to increase the numbers of civil
servants moving between Whitehall and the private sector:
a) There is a growing demand for civil servants with
external expertise, as reported by former ministers
in PASC’s recent report Change in Government: the
agenda for leadership.
b) Structural reforms in the Civil Service as part of the
Government’s deficit reduction agenda seem likely to
mean a significant number of individuals leaving the
civil service and looking for outside appointments.
c) The Government’s Big Society agenda calls for a
greater diversity of providers for public services,
which will increased the potential for movement of
employees between the traditional public, private
and third sectors, thus leading to potential conflict
with the Business Appointment Rules.
The inquiry will seeks to consider how Government can draw in
and benefit from external expertise without giving rise to concern
over propriety and undue influence.
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
Future work programme: *
Looking to the future,
We are currently setting the priorities for PASC for the rest of the
Parliament (until 2015 General Election)
We will of course continue our ongoing scrutiny work, holding
regular sessions with the Ombudsman, the Charity Commission,
the Cabinet Office, UKSA and the Commissioner for Public
Appointments.
Likely other inquiries will include:
o The use of special advisers in Whitehall: Last October
PASC announced their intention, as part of a programme
of inquiries to examine influence in the highest reaches of
Government, to consider the role of special advisers and
the operation of the Business Appointment Rules.
o The work of the Committee on Standards in Public Life:
The scrutiny of CSPL falls within the remit of PASC, and
fits with our wider interest in good government and
propriety
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LSE Lecture: The Work of PASC
Our future work is likely to be guided by the six principles of good
governance which we have identified in our inquiries: *
1. We want to look at how senior departmental
managers exercise leadership to drive through
change, in particular through the new structures of
departmental boards.
2. We will assess how performance is affected by the
development of new and relevant skill sets in
government.
3. We would like the Government to assess whether
the old Haldane model of Ministerial responsibility
and accountability is really appropriate in this age of
radical transfer of functions out of Whitehall.
4. We want to ensure that Government is being
properly transparent and empowering citizens to use
the data it is releasing.
5. For us, it is crucial that change programmes are
coherent and coordinated from the centre. And we
want to ensure that civil servants are properly
engaged in
6. and empowered to deliver reform.
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