There is no denying the unprecedented churn of senior civil servants in recent years. The Institute of Government unveiled figures in 2012 which suggest that turnover is now as high as 30% in some departments, while across the rest of the country the median labour turnover is just 12.5% a year. In fact, the situation has now reached the stage where many elected government ministers are in posts for longer than their so-called permanent secretaries.
Of course, it's not just about civil servants choosing to move on. Unless you've been living under a stone for the past two years you'll be acutely aware that the government is under serious pressure to meet spending review targets in order to reduce the deficit, and this unfortunately, yet inevitably, means redundancies. As a result, never has the mantra of delivering 'more for less' been more pertinent for the public sector. With fewer civil servants on the payroll, having the right skills and experience available, especially in areas such as maths and technology, is critical. After all, the loss of institutional knowledge could have a lasting impact on the effective running of departments.
Skills and the data explosion
A good example of the current predicament can be seen in the sector's approach to the handling of its data, which is growing rapidly. As it continues to grow, compounded by the internet, mobile devices, social media, and latterly by cloud computing, it poses both a challenge and an opportunity for the public sector – namely how to manage, analyse and make use of the ever-increasing amount of information. The UK is facing a severe shortage of people with the appropriate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills to manage big data and this is only set to worsen as the need inevitably increases.
Public sector management must therefore take a closer view of the structure of its workforce to ensure it has the right balance of skills, in the right departments, at the right times. For example, solutions like predictive analytics for forecasting can be used to establish where these skills might be lacking, where human resources should be allocated, and whether this means moving individuals between departments or hiring in new talent. After all, Martha Lane Fox's digital by default strategy means that big data will be an important consideration in the evolution and success of future public services, so the government needs to ensure that it has the talent and skills, at all levels, to meet this. The transparency agenda will depend on the ability of the civil servants and private citizens alike to make use of newly accessible data to improve available services and drive growth, but the right skills need to be there.
While careful workforce planning will offer the private sector a means of mapping and retaining its talent, it is now more important than ever that the public sector looks for a long-term solution to the problem. The UK must therefore consider rolling out data analysis skills as part of the broader curriculum, rather than keeping it as a module within the current mathematics curriculum. This will ensure that the public sector leaders have the right skills within their workforce to cope with the rising tide of data, and that public services benefit as a result.
Simon Dennis is director of central government at SAS UK
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