Pat McFadden

Pat McFadden

Labour — Wolverhampton South East

Speaking in the House of Commons on 5 June 2025

Debate

Civil Service Reform

Contribution

It is fair to ask for productivity improvements from civil servants on behalf of the taxpayer. We have had an increase in hiring over the past 10 years. We do not have a target for a headcount reduction—that was tried under the last Government and did not work—but we do have a target for reduction in admin and overhead spend. We want to work with civil servants on how that will be done. I say to the hon. Lady that when the taxpayer is committing funds to public services, we want to ensure we get maximum productivity in the public sector; we cannot just resign ourselves to lower productivity and the answer always being to hire more people.

More from Pat McFadden

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

For Pat McFadden's full parliamentary record including voting history, expenses and all other contributions, see the Pat McFadden report card.