Public Servant Lifestyle

Traditional values must be fused with dynamic 21st century skills to deliver better advice to Ministers and services to the public – says Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service, Sir Gus O'Donnell.

Reaffirming his personal commitment to the historic values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality, Gus has unveiled the start of a consultation on a new Civil Service Code – developed jointly with the First Civil Service Commissioner.

The new Code, he says, reaffirms these values, as well as making clear that they are about an outward facing Civil Service, that meets the needs of the public who fund and use its services.

Emphasising the need for these traditional values to be the driving force towards improving departments' capabilities, Gus also announced the first three Capability Reviews, to kick start that process.

Civil Service Code

Ten years after it was first published, Gus has outlined plans to revise the Civil Service Code, to make it clearer and more relevant to the 21st Century Civil Servant.

"The code is an anchor for the high standard of behaviour that I expect of civil servants," he says. "It contains our traditional values – which have stood the test of time – but shapes them to have meaning for 21st century civil servants.

"It needs to make sense in real–life situations and connect with all Civil Servants – wherever they might work and whatever they might do."

The new Code also provides for the Civil Service Commissioners to consider taking complaints direct from civil servants about alleged breaches of the Code.

Before it is finalised, the new Code will undergo a three–month consultation by the Cabinet Office.

Capability Reviews

The Cabinet Secretary also announced today the first wave of Departments to undergo Capability Reviews:

1: The Department for Constitutional Affairs;

2: The Home Office; and

3: The Department for Work and Pensions.

The reviews aim to improve the capability of the Civil Service to meet today's delivery challenges and to be ready for tomorrow's.

Capabilities in three key areas are being assessed – leadership, strategy and delivery. Each review aims to identify where departments need to improve, and will include the development of an action plan to address these findings. The programme will be rolled out across all 17 main Departments over the next 18 months.

Concluding, Gus said: "One of my key personal priorities is to improve the capability of the Civil Service. We need strong values, a strong culture and stronger capability to get the dynamism we need to sustain a world class Civil Service in the 21st century".

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