Civil servants face ‘revolving door’ closure
Contracts could be altered to ban them from lucrative positions in jobs related to their government role
CIVIL servants’ employment contracts could be changed to ban senior officials cashing in on contacts and information from their time in government, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
Lord Pickles, the new head of the body that polices the “revolving door” between Whitehall and the private sector, is preparing to launch a review of the standard agreements signed by senior civil servants over concerns that “fuzziness in the system” could allow officials to work for companies to which they have previously awarded government funding.
One possible outcome is routine funding for “gardening leave” for a period after mandarins finish their roles, or clauses preventing them from taking work with firms with which they have had official dealings for a set number of months or years.
Lord Pickles, a former Conservative Party chairman, said “a lot of people in government” believed that the current system needed to be reformed, before it “crumbles”. His comments suggest the changes could form part of an overhaul of Whitehall’s employment procedures being planned by Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser.
Last week Lord Pickles was confirmed as the new chairman of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), which provides non-binding advice to ministers and senior officials on the roles they can take up outside of government in the first two years after their departure. The peer will act as a formal adviser to the Prime Minister on the issue.
The committee routinely asks individual ministers or senior civil servants to observe a six-month “waiting period” before taking up jobs related to their former roles, as well as banning their use of privileged information gained in Whitehall – but the demands have no legal force. Lord Pickles set out his plans during a hearing of the Commons administration committee last week. Asked if his review could propose changing the employment contracts of senior civil servants to include new restrictions on their use of information and contacts gained in office, he said: “That is exactly what I am talking about. Clearly these kind of things need to be taken gently and reasonably and the appropriate procedures with regard to human resources and personnel that it needs to go through.
“But we need to start moving forward on this, otherwise the system itself crumbles. I think it is a view that is held by a lot of people in government.”
Lord Pickles said he would carry out the review in earnest when he is able to hold necessary “face-to-face” meetings again after the peak of the coronavirus epidemic. He said: “By the end of the year, it should be very clear. I have an initial view that there needs to be an adjustment to contracts of employment, but that may or may not be right.”
Lord Pickles, who was communities and local government secretary under David Cameron, added: “Many top civil servants are privy to_– and I suppose in a way sometimes politicians are – very market-sensitive information, not just about a potential employer, but about their competitors.
“That is why it just needs a little bit of attention … down the line you can see a problem coming.” He acknowledged that there would be “a lot of reluctance about gardening leave”.
‘We need to move forward on this, otherwise the system itself crumbles. It is a view held by a lot of people’