Civil Service leaders fight ‘bonkers’ fast-stream freeze

A GROUP of the most senior civil servants in the UK are resisting Boris Johnson’s “bonkers” plan to scrap the fast-stream scheme – a recruitment programme for talented graduates – for a year.

There is deep disquiet about the proposal among permanent secretaries, the officials who head each government department. The senior mandarins are pressing Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, to scrap plans to pause the fast scheme, fearing it could damage the reputation of the Civil Service.

More than 1,000 graduates are brought into government through the fast stream each year in a scheme seen by supporters as bringing the “best and brightest” into Whitehall.

But as part of the Prime Minister’s drive to shrink the Civil Service by a fifth, the fast-stream will be paused for “at least” a year, the Cabinet Office agreed last month. One source familiar with the views of senior civil servants and who opposes the change said: “The permanent secretaries to a person think this is bonkers.

“Most of them went through the scheme. They know it is about the brightest and best.

“They get some of the best graduates in the country coming on to this. They will know this is stupid.”

It is understood that the frustrations of senior mandarins have been communicated to Mr Case, the head of the UK Civil Service.

There are fears the freeze will drive talented graduates away from joining the Civil Service and undercut the quality of future leadership in Whitehall.

The Treasury has managed to protect its own graduate program from the faststream freeze after senior figures there concluded the pause was wrong.

Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, is fighting “deep cuts” in her own department’s team being urged by the Prime Minister.