Prime ministers should send their cabinet members to a school of government and stop the constant rotation of ministers to improve strategic thinking in Whitehall, a former cabinet secretary has said.
Mark Sedwill, who ran the civil service for Boris Johnson and Theresa May, said effective government needed “longevity of personnel”, rather than a stream of new ministers without expertise in their portfolios.
Speaking to a parliamentary committee on strategic thinking in government, Sedwill criticised the “tendency to reset the clocks and have a year zero” every time new ministers are appointed.
Referring to the habit of politicians of making media announcements in order to dominate the headlines and appear active in government, Sedwill highlighted the “huge pressure because of the ‘grid phenomenon’”, adding: “Those [announcements] inevitably aren’t strategic, tend to be quite short term and aren’t always aligned with the other existing policy.”
Over the last few years there has been unusually high turnover at the top of departments. Johnson appointed a slew of new ministers after mass resignations and Liz Truss had a short-lived cadre of ministers during her seven weeks in Downing Street.
Sedwill said any new prime minister would be “well advised to put ministers in place and train them properly and leave them there as long as they can”.
He said the UK appeared to “rotate ministers faster than elsewhere” and had a cabinet twice as big as that of the US president, with many top ministers not having any expertise in their area when they start the job.
The former senior official supported the idea of a school of government with its own campus, where “rising stars” among ministers, MPs and officials could network and mingle.
Asked how to develop the strategic thinking skills of ministers, he said: “Teach it to them. We don’t really teach ministers about government – they’re expected to sink or swim.
“Political skills are critically important for a minister but they aren’t the only skills a really effective minister needs. They also need governance skills. But those things don’t arise naturally. You have to teach them.
“We don’t really train ministers at all, but to be frank, if you really want them to be strategic, you need to give them time to be strategic.”
In 2021, Johnson announced he would “invest in training for civil servants and for ministers, with high standards for online provision as well as the creation of a new physical campus”.
There is currently a “government campus” programme of training for civil servants that has run online and in-person courses for officials since 2020, with a Leadership College for Government.
However, there is not yet a direct replacement for the National School of Government that was closed down under the coalition in 2012 and provided a permanent headquarters for government training.
Sedwill was giving evidence on Tuesday as part of the inquiry into strategic thinking in government that was ordered after the pandemic by the liaison committee, which is made up of select committee chairs and holds the prime minister to account.
In written evidence to the committee, the former head of GCHQ, Sir David Omand, called for an end to the government handling crises over WhatsApp, saying the platform might suit gossip and informal exchanges but was inappropriate for important decision-making.
Omand, who ran the UK intelligence service before becoming the permanent secretary of the Home Office and the Cabinet Office, criticised the way government was conducted in the pandemic and said future crises should be handled with “proper process”.
He said in his evidence that ministers and officials often engaged in “gossip” and “informal exchanges” as they gathered for cabinet meetings, which helped let off steam when pressure had built up.
“It is understandable that WhatsApp messages might fulfil a comparable function during lockdowns that limited much face-to-face contact,” he said. “But to judge by the evidence now made public by the Covid-19 inquiry, such exchanges (leaving aside the vile misogyny) had become the foreground means of forcing outcomes, not just sharing background mood music.
“That Covid rationale no longer applies, if it ever did. It is essential to have a proper decision-making process if we are to survive a crisis in good order.”
He added: “There is little point in devoting effort to identifying strategic opportunities and strategic threats and risks if, when the time for action comes, there is no proper process for weighing decisions against strategic goals and adjusting course accordingly.”
