Government needs to think like a start-up, says minister | Global News Avenue

A cabinet minister has urged “disruptors” to join the civil service to make the government “think more like a start-up”.

Pat McFadden, head of the Cabinet Office, said officials needed greater “risk tolerance” to deliver public services more effectively.

He said in a speech that he hoped Whitehall would follow the “test and learn culture” of leading technology companies.

After a row over Sir Keir Starmer’s comments last week, he insisted he was not criticizing the civil service itself.

A civil service union boss has accused the Prime Minister of using “Trumpian language” after he said too many officials were “comfortable in the tepid bath of controlled decline”.

Sir Keir’s speech reflects his frustration Some government officials privately stated On the efficiency of the civil service.

But in a speech in east London, McFadden struck a softer tone, noting that civil servants themselves were “frustrated” by the way the government was being run.

“The people here are nice, but the systems and structures they work within are often outdated,” he added.

Still, he added that he did want to see the civil service recruitment process reformed to encourage outsiders to apply.

Citing high-profile appeals from Boris Johnson’s former adviser Dominic Cummings ‘Weirdos and misfits’ enter governmentwho said he wanted to see more “creative thinkers” solving policy problems.

“Whatever term you want to use, we do need innovators, disruptors and original thinkers,” he added.

He added that this included changes to the recruitment process, which to outsiders was seen as “incredibly bureaucratic and off-putting”.

His department has confirmed a third wave of recruitment plans that will encourage tech workers to join the civil service on secondments lasting between six months and a year.

New recruits are paid up to £85,000 under an innovation scholarship scheme set up by the previous Conservative government to help find technology-based solutions to problems in public services.

However, he acknowledged that public service pay limits could be a “challenge” when it comes to attracting new employees at technology companies.

“Many people could probably make more money working in the private sector, so we appeal to their sense of public service,” he acknowledged.

The cabinet minister also said he wanted to see greater adoption of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to improve public services – something the previous government had promised.

However, while the Conservatives see technology as a way to cut the size of the civil service, McFadden said he had no “people targets” and his “focus” was on making officers more efficient.

He also confirmed details of two projects to test a new model using “test and learn teams” to find “innovative ways to solve problems”.

Two early-stage pilot projects, due to start in January, will see officials improve provision of temporary accommodation for homeless families in Essex and Liverpool, and improve family support in Manchester and South Yorkshire.

The model will then be deployed to help the government achieve new “milestones” set by the Prime Minister last week, including ending hospital backlog and improving community policing.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Richard Holden said Labor would “increase the size and cost of the state”, adding that Labor opposed Tory plans to shrink the civil service to pre-Brexit levels before the election.

He added: “Labour ministers are talking tough, but we know from painful experience that’s all it is – glib platitudes and a broken promise to leave the British taxpayer footing the bill.”