Scottish Government: Staffing concerns in the civil service as internal communications revealed
Joe Griffin, the new Permanent Secretary, has been quizzed over the Scottish Government’s working from home policy for civil servants.
The Scottish Government is operating with “an extraordinarily high” ratio of one manager to every staff member as concerns grow about the size of the civil service.
Joe Griffin, the new Permanent Secretary, revealed just under 50 per cent of civil servants are line managers with no “specific plan or specific time” to reorganise the workforce.
In front of the Parliament’s finance committee on Tuesday, Mr Griffin was asked to account for the workforce headcount, high salaries and the fact the majority of staff work from home.
From October, Mr Griffin said, civil servants will be expected to return to the office at least 40 per cent of the week.
Recent internal communications, released under Freedom of Information, said workers would be told to return to the office three days a week in line with their Westminster colleagues. However, when quizzed about working practices, Mr Griffin said two days a week would be the starting point, with a further increase expected in the future.
Civil servants have expressed fury about the proposed end to working from home, with some questioning whether their “civil rights” were being breached and asking for transport costs.
Some civil servant concerns
On the Government’s internal communication system, Saltire, one worker said he was concerned about using public transport, adding: “At least in the safety of my Fiat Tipo I’m not going to be sitting in someone else’s urine.”
Some staff groups expressed specific worries, such as a spokesperson for military wives saying women with partners in the armed forces should be allowed to continue to work from home.
“Some people have reacted to that decision, and I understand some of the anxieties that people have,” Mr Griffin said. “We absolutely need to make sure that we are taking account of diversity and inclusion requirements, but the direction of travel is clear for the reasons that I've given. So I think let’s secure the two days a week policy first.”
‘Extraordinarily high’
Michelle Thomson, the SNP MSP, described the number of civil service line managers as “extraordinarily high” and asked what plans were in place to reduce it.
“Being relatively early in my tenure, I can't give you a specific plan and a specific time,” Mr Griffin said. But, he added: “It is in play”.
Should civil servants refuse to the return to the office there will not be, he said, any disciplinary measures taken.
Civil service numbers on the rise
Figures this week show the civil service has risen to its highest number since the Scottish Parliament was founded in 1999 at 27,400 staff. Public sector workers are paid more than £2,000 on average more than those in the private sector.
Sick days among the civil service have also risen and are now nearly nine days a year per worker.
Craig Hoy, the Tory MSP, asked why Mr Griffin was unable to say what the optimum workforce number would be or any timeline for a reduction in headcount.
The permanent secretary said he agreed the “core civil service needs to come down”. He added: “There is a direction of travel of trying to reduce some of those some of those figures.”
On the growth of the civil service, he pointed to the introduction of additional devolved issues such as the welfare system and the creation of Social Security Scotland.
Mr Hoy said: “There's a sense that we've never had so many civil servants, and they've never had it so good. I understand you want this to be an attractive place to work, but it should also be fair place to work, because it is taxpayers’ money that is funding it.”
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