Commissioners are linked to one or more main departments and the larger agencies, and regularly meet the Permanent Secretary or Agency Chief Executive, the departmental HR Director and sometimes the departmental Board. These meetings explore current issues of concern to us as the regulator and discuss ideas for development and improvement. Linking Commissioners in this way is a relatively new idea and helps to give us a strategic overview of the recruitment in departments and agencies.
During this year's round of linked visits, issues covered included:
Departments acknowledged the need to improve selection and assessment tools. Some had implemented the Fletcher report's recommendations on testing. Some are now introducing the addition of split panels, especially for senior posts. This is where the panel divides into pairs and each pair interviews the candidate; the full panel then normally comes together for the final interview.
Departments were also positive about a greater contribution from the Commissioners and welcomed the support they had received from us. There was support for the compliance monitoring arrangements (see Compliance Monitoring) and the new Civil Service Code (see Upholders of Civil Service values).
They also recognised that the treatment of external recruits in the early months contributes to their success or failure.
During this year we will extend the Link Commissioner role to corporate areas such as HR, Communications, Finance and IT to help ensure greater consistency in recruitment.
