Giving evidence to a committee of MPs for the first time since taking on the civil service’s figurehead role, the former DHSC chief discusses working from home and departmental boundaries
In his first appearance before MPs since becoming cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald discussed the importance of breaking down government siloes – but also the beneficial reasons why such distinctions exist in the first place.
Appearing before the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee last week – his 100th overall select committee appearance – government’s new top official was asked if the new government’s mission approach “breaks down siloes”. Wormald said it does, but that siloes can also be desirable.
“Sometimes in public services, you want to meet someone from a silo,” he said. “In my old world of health, if you have a medical condition, you wish to meet doctors and nurses who are absolute, dedicated specialists in that particular condition.”
Wormald said the important thing, therefore, is “not to have no siloes” but to “have that problem solving mentality”.
“So, does the problem that is in front of me require a multi-disciplinary approach people to work across boundaries to solve the problem, or does it need an expert in that very specific theme? And what we want is for people to think that way around. Start with the problem. Start with the individuals with problems you are trying to solve and build your answer around that, not from where you where you come from,” he said.
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Asked what the government had learnt from other countries on how to introduce a mission approach, Wormald said Japan’s approach to demographics challenges had stood out.
“Their starting question was not: ‘how do I provide a service?’. It was: ‘how are we going to reshape society for a new demographic?’. Now, as soon as that is your start in question, it drives you to some very different solutions…so I’m very, very interested in that,” Wormald said.
He also pointed to Singapore’s “very intense problem-solving approach” and its focus on how “technology is going to help me solve this problem right here”.
Taking questions about working practices, Wormald also asked by MPs whether there is “some urgent merit” in getting civil servants to go into offices more “so that those new cross-silo relationships can be forged”.
The cab sec said the current expectation for civil servants to spend 60% of their time in the office is “about right” but “needs to be applied with a level of common sense, depending on the work that is being done”.
“I think it gives people time face-to-face with their colleagues, which is very important, particularly important for new entrants, and it’s obviously very, very important for people who don’t have spaces where they can work from home, but also gives some people some flexibility,” he said. “We’ve got no plans to change that policy.”
Wormald added: “There is a big technology element, however, and of course, Foreign Office is a great example somewhere that manages to run very effective networks spread all over the world, using technology to do so. So, the face-to-face bit is very important but it’s not the only thing.”
