Lessons from the COVID-19 Inquiry for the Civil Service

Mabbett, Deborah (2024) Lessons from the COVID-19 Inquiry for the Civil Service. [Editorial/Introduction]

Abstract

The COVID-19 inquiry offers compelling evidence that the working relationship between ministers and civil servants has become dysfunctional. Ministers are often disappointed with the quality of civil service advice and distrustful of officials’ intentions. Civil servants, for their part, are unable to stand up to behaviour by ministers that breaches established standards of propriety and codes of conduct. Civil servants' comparative advantage lies in operational knowledge and institutional memory. They should be able to tell ministers what is needed to make a policy work with more authority than any outsider. To beat off critics who claim that they are inefficient and unwilling, they have to become good managers, and be able to demonstrate this. This means using the tools of formal monitoring and accepting the scrutiny which comes with them. Under current arrangements, ministers can respond to conflict with civil servants by claiming that the working relationship has broken down and pressing for the dismissal of the offending official. Their willingness to do this is surely central to the culture of weaselly compliance that the Covid enquiry has exposed. But to regain job security, civil servants will have to accept formal accountability.

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