8,000 civil servants don't know what to do

ALMOST 8,000 civil servants admit they have little idea what they are supposed to be doing when they turn up for work each day.

James Purnell Work and Pension Secretary James Purnell, Work and Pension Secretary

They told staff surveys they are “not clear about what is expected of them within their job”.

Worst affected are the huge Department for Work and Pensions and the newly-formed Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills with a quarter of staff confused about their role.

Surveys also uncovered massive dissatisfaction with the way Whitehall is run, with only a little over a third of staff believing services are well managed.

At the DWP and Department of Health this figure fell to one in five.

The astonishing revelations come at a time when the private sector has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs but the number of people working for public bodies has actually risen.

Tory MP Grant Shapps, who uncovered the figures, said: “It’s pretty disappointing to discover that millions of pounds has been spent finding out that the majority of Whitehall civil servants do not think their departments are well managed or in some cases even serve a purpose.

“This analysis should be extremely concerning for ministers. It reveals civil servants are reaching the same conclusions about this Government that most people have felt for some time.

“At a time when record numbers of people are being made unemployed and losing their homes, it is thoroughly depressing to find out even those responsible for implementing the Government’s policies do not believe in them.”

The past three years has seen spending on Government staff surveys jump 73 per cent, costing £1.5million over that period.

They have revealed that across the 13 Government departments only 37.5 per cent of civil servants felt their organisation was well managed.

At the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, created when Gordon Brown split the former Education Department in two, less than half the staff said they understood what the department was trying to do.

The figure at the Department for Transport was even lower and just a quarter of staff felt the department’s performance was improving.

Despite the Prime Minister’s pledge to reform Whitehall, most civil servants felt there was little prospect of change.

Three-quarters of staff at the DWP, in charge of reforming the welfare state, said it was “incapable of change”.

But in contrast 92 per cent of staff at the tiny Department for International Development, which pays aid to developing countries, said they were proud to work there.

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