Top civil servants slated by own staff

azzuri · Top civil servants slated by own staff

see - http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=778652006

Top civil servants slated by own staff

HAMISH MACDONELL

SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR

SCOTLAND'S leading civil servants have been savaged by their staff for bad financial management, a lack of leadership and the poor running of the country's government, The Scotsman has learned.

The results of a confidential employee survey, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, represent a damning critique of the performance of Scotland's senior government officials.

The survey shows that:

• only 27 per cent of civil servants feel the Scottish Executive makes good use of money;

• only 52 per cent of civil servants in Scotland believe that any checks are made before money is spent;

• only 28 per cent feel there is a culture of sound financial management.

The survey reveals for the first time what the 7,000 staff who work for the Executive and its agencies in Scotland actually feel about the way the government is run.

The questions range from the fairly trivial, such as the quality of the air-conditioning, to the sweeping, assessing the managerial skills of senior civil servants.

Staff were asked to give a positive, negative or neutral response to a series of questions, and the results do not reflect well on the civil service leadership.

The figures for the office of John Elvidge, the Permanent Secretary, are particularly bad, revealing a lack of faith in the management abilities of the Executive's most senior official.

Only 18 per cent of staff in his office believe there is a good use of financial resources, while a mere 17 per cent believe there is a culture of sound financial management.

Asked whether senior managers set a good example to staff in the way they worked, only 19 per cent of those in Mr Elvidge's office answered "yes".

The picture was nearly as bleak in the finance and central service department, which is responsible for the Executive's £25 billion budget.

Only 23 per cent of staff in that department thought the Executive was making good use of its money, while 24 per cent thought there was a culture of sound financial management.

Worryingly for Mr Elvidge, there has also been a sharp decline in key indicators since last year.

In 2004, 50 per cent of civil servants felt there was a culture of good financial management; by 2005, this had plummeted to 28 per cent.

Government agencies, as well as Executive departments, were included in the survey, and among the worst performing agencies was the Fisheries Research Service, where only one in four employees felt there was a culture of sound financial management.

Concerns over management and leadership were consistent themes. Asked to name the one area they wanted to see improved, the highest number of respondents identified leadership.

There was, though, some good news for the Executive in high approval ratings for team work, line management and communication of objectives.

Also, many of the staff answered questions with a "neutral" response, showing they had not decided on - or were unwilling to judge - the performance of their managers.

However, only one in eight employees felt that enough positive action had been taken by managers since the last survey, in 2004, which suggests that, although those in charge at the Executive may have listened to their staff, they are still perceived as being too slow in responding to the concerns.

A spokesman for the Executive acknowledged that there were negative aspects to the survey and said these would be addressed.

He said: "There is a degree of negative responses coming through. There are definitely challenges in there, but there are a lot of positives in there, too."

He went on: "There is room for improvement, and we will be using the responses to the staff survey to make sure we improve."

The Conservative MSP Derek Brownlee said: "If they cannot even impress upon their own staff that they are running efficient government, how can they persuade the taxpayers of Scotland?"

John Swinney, for the SNP, said: "It is time ministers woke up to the waste of money they are presiding over, because their staff are very aware of what is going on, even if they are not."

Hardly surprising, is it? Staff survey telling us what we already know. The fact that staff are questioning their bosses 'financial acumen' is especially worrying.

parkhead_rfb

people who work for the executive aint officialy civil servants though.

just want to be pedantic Laughing