Civil Service Reform

Henry Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 19th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

Yes. When we said we wanted those services that can be delivered online to be delivered only online, we meant it. It is not easy to do this, but it can be done, and my hon. Friend, who has considerable expertise in this area, will no doubt support the aim.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend touched on the importance of importing the very best of transformational change from the enterprise sector. Will he say a little more about that?

[Mr Maude]

We want a civil service culture that is much more recognisable to those who come from the private sector so that there can be greater interaction. Where people do move from one sector to another, frequently it does not work because they feel like they have landed on a different planet. It is particularly valuable for civil servants to spend some time in the private sector as they will pick up additional skills, as well as vice versa. There can be very valuable cross-fertilisation. This has often been tried, but it has worked far too rarely. We are going to have another go.