Civil Service fast stream scrapped for a year

Cabinet ministers object to the Prime Minister’s efforts to shrink Whitehall headcount to 2016 levels

THE Civil Service fast stream will be closed for at least a year after Boris Johnson pushed through the change despite dissent from some of his own Cabinet ministers.

The scheme, designed as a way to get the country’s brightest graduates working for the Government, will not run in 2023 as part of efforts to shrink the Civil Service by a fifth.

The decision was signed off at the Cabinet Office board meeting on May 19, which was chaired by Stephen Barclay, Mr Johnson’s chief of staff.

A line in the meeting’s minutes, leaked to The Daily Telegraph, reads: “The chair confirmed that the Prime Minister had decided the fast stream would be paused for at least a year.”

Last year around 60,000 people applied and more than 1,000 job offers were made as part of the scheme, which is seen as a fast track to senior roles in the civil service.

Most of the permanent secretaries running government departments entered via the fast stream. The scheme includes applications for the Foreign Office’s diplomatic service.

The reference to the pause lasting “at least” a year opens up the possibility that the fast stream closure could last for longer than planned.

When the Prime Minister floated the move during a Cabinet away day in Stoke earlier this month, there was some opposition around the table. Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, is understood to have criticised the idea during the debate that followed. He oversaw civil service reform until last September when he was moved in the reshuffle.

There was also understood to have been disquiet in sections of the Treasury, with senior figures pushing to make sure their own scheme for graduates would remain unaffected.

Civil servants in government departments whose staff are especially involved in front-line policy delivery are also understood to have privately raised concerns about the change.

However, Mr Johnson and Mr Barclay, who remains in the role as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster as well as working in the Prime Minister’s office, have pushed through the reform.

Jacob Rees-mogg, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of government efficiency, has championed the push, along with other ministers.

A government source who supports the move said: “The Prime Minister and Cabinet agreed a Whitehall-wide hiring freeze to cut the size of the Civil Service and the cost of government for the British people. A temporary pause in fast-stream recruitment will mark significant progress in efforts to return Civil Service headcount to its 2016 levels and will give ministers the opportunity to make the scheme even more effective in the future.”

The decision has been made internally and is expected to be announced in the coming months.

Successful applicants of the fast stream due to start work this autumn will be unaffected by the move as the freeze will kick in from autumn 2023.