3.36 Government can do better at developing the staff that it does have. There needs to be a clear career path to attract skills into the civil service, and a way to develop staff and give staff experience of managing contracts. This requires coordination to be taken by the centre of government to support a more vibrant commercial profession.
3.37 The government has recognised that improving commercial skills is a priority. The Civil Service Reform Plan 50 and its supporting capabilities plan51 set out an ambition to "transform the civil service into a high-skilled, high-performance organisation that's less bureaucratic and more focused on delivering results" with commercial skills and behaviours forming 1 of 4 priority areas. CCS has started several initiatives to improve commercial recruitment, training and development:
• Helping departments recruit commercial staff
In 2014 CCS ran a recruitment campaign for 77 commercial roles for departments and the CCS. Previously, every department ran its own campaign, potentially competing for the same skills. Of 988 applicants for senior roles, some 34 were in post or under offer by 15 July 2014. CCS will use this system to appoint new commercial directors at the Home Office, Department of Health and HM Revenue & Customs.
• Civil service commercial fast stream
A 'commercial fast stream' will recruit graduates to commercial roles from 2014. Participants will gain experience of commercial work in departments, CCS, an allied role such as finance, and outside the civil service. This builds on, for example, the graduate commercial training programme in the Ministry of Defence.
• Recruiting from new sources
School leavers will be recruited as apprentices directly into commercial roles across government from September 2015. Apprentices will train for professional qualifications and receive work experience over a 2-year programme. CCS is also creating internships with 7 universities and working with the CBI to create industry placements for people from the private sector.
• Framework for commercial skills
The framework allows commercial staff to be rated at 3 levels across 16 competencies covering pre-procurement, procurement and contract management. CCS is developing a tool to assess its procurement staff against the framework using multiple-choice exams. Staff will gain 'passports' to show their experience, with set criteria needed to enter the senior civil service. It also plans to introduce a talent management and development plan for high-potential staff.
• Better commercial training
This will include existing eTraining on EU procurement law, new commercial masterclasses provided by Civil Service Learning and the Commissioning Academy. The new courses will align with the skills framework. By March 2014 some 9,500 staff had completed eLearning on commercial awareness, and 1,400 attended the masterclasses.
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50 HM Government, The Civil Service Reform Plan, June 2012, available at: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/civil-service-reform
51 HM Government, Civil Service Capabilities Plan, April 2013 (and updated June 2014), available at: www.gov.uk/government/news/capabilities-plan-for-the-civil-service