Commissioners are actively involved in the selection process at the most senior levels to make sure the best available person is appointed.
Our involvement not only safeguards the recruitment principles, but also gives candidates, the Civil Service and the public the assurance that they have, in fact, been upheld.
Departments are the employers and make the appointments. Our role is to ensure that the principles of selection on merit on the basis of fair and open competition are followed. We must approve the appointments.
The First Civil Service Commissioner proposed to Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Head of the Home Civil Service, that the Commissioners’ role should be extended to allow them to be involved in all top 200 Civil Service posts, irrespective of whether these are filled by open competition or internal competition. We are delighted that in April 2007 Sir Gus and the Senior Leadership Committee agreed that the internal process for promoting civil servants should be put on the same footing as that for external appointments and that Commissioners should have oversight of competitions for all top 200 posts and ensure the process of managed moves is correctly followed. The new Prime Minister set an important precedent by submitting his proposed moves on senior appointments and the process used for selection to the First Commissioner for regulatory approval.
