Tories accused of scapegoating civil servants as top official goes

Education mandarin Slater is sacked as PM seeks to distance himself from ‘mutant’ exams algorithm

THE Government was accused of throwing civil servants “under a bus” last night, after the Department for Education’s permanent secretary was sacked following the exams fiasco.

Jonathan Slater’s departure was announced as the Prime Minister sought to distance himself from the A-level and GCSE chaos, blaming “a mutant algorithm” for the upset.

Government sources said that Boris Johnson had lost confidence in the senior mandarin last month and claimed his exit was not a direct result of the controversial grading system.

A Downing Street source said: “The main rationale is that education is the PM’S top priority and he was not confident in Jonathan Slater’s ability to deliver our agenda.”

Another Government source, however, admitted that “the exams problem didn’t help”. But, Dave Penman, head of the FDA civil servants’ union, accused the Government of “scapegoating” Mr Slater, who is the fifth senior departmental civil servant to leave Whitehall this year. His departure follows that of Ofqual’s chief regulator Sally Collier, who stood down on Monday.

Mr Penman said: “If it wasn’t clear before, then it certainly is now – this administration will throw Civil Service leaders under a bus without a moment’s hesitation to shield ministers from any kind of accountability.

“Whilst the origins of the exams fiasco may be complex, the solutions for this Government are simple: scapegoating civil servants.”

A senior Tory backbencher said that Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, should have been the one to resign over the exam furore.

“Ultimately the buck stops with him. This is a classic case of deputy heads will roll,” he said. Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, said Mr Slater had “taken the fall” for ministers. She said: “Leadership requires a sense of responsibility and a willingness to be held accountable, qualities this Prime Minister and his ministers utterly lack.”

The permanent secretary will be replaced by Susan Acland-hood, who was temporarily appointed last week as Mr Slater’s deputy.

It comes as Mr Johnson told pupils that their grades were almost “derailed by a mutant algorithm”.

Addressing pupils at a school in Coalville, Leicestershire, the Prime Minister, said: “I know how stressful that must have been. I’m very, very glad that it has finally been sorted out.”

The Government, however, also faces a backlash from unions and MPS after its about-turn on face coverings in

‘This administration will throw Civil Service leaders under a bus without a moment’s hesitation’

secondary schools.

It was announced on Tuesday that face coverings are to be mandatory for communal areas of secondary schools, excluding classrooms, in areas of England under local virus lockdowns. They would be optional in other areas.

Katharine Birbalsingh, head teacher of the Michaela Community School in Wembley, north-west London, warned that masks could make children “less and not more safe”. Writing for The Daily Telegraph, she warned children will “swap their masks, ping them, lick them, spit in them and pass them around”.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said schools needed “absolute clarity, not discretion”.

“It is neither helpful or fair to ask school leaders to make individual decisions about face coverings in their school,” he said.