Civil Service Reform

David Ruffley Excerpts

Tuesday 19th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

Special advisers do not take part in the recruitment and appointment of mainstream civil servants, but they do play an important part in the way in which Ministers achieve their priorities and deliver their programmes.

[Mr David Ruffley (Bury St Edmunds) (Con)]

I welcome the thrust of the reform, but will the Minister clarify one point? Does he support the idea that a Secretary of State should have the final say in the recruitment of a private sector individual to the post of permanent secretary, provided it is done on a fixed-term, performance-related basis?

[Mr Maude]

Yes, I do believe that. Obviously, that would need to follow a selection and recruitment process that had been regulated by the Civil Service Commission to ensure that the appointment had been made on merit following fair and open competition, as the law requires. Given that degree of regulation, however, and the assurance that that should give that the individual was an appointable candidate for not only the current Secretary of State but any future ones, there is no obvious reason why that should not happen.