B

Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 10 September 2024

Debate

Whitehall: Prioritising Performance

Contribution

My Lords, the Reform report feels HR led. While I agree with some of the recommendations, for example on the induction of outsiders, I know from my experience in business, as well as in Whitehall, that this is not the route to success. In a sense, the fewer HR directors there are, the better the policy and outcomes. What the report does not bring out is that public sector performance has been very disappointing in certain areas, particularly following Covid. Important services like probate, driving tests, property registration and tax collection are all lamentably slow. This is in stark contrast to the private sector, where you go bust if you do not serve the customer and manage well; you will not be sustained. In that context, does the Minister agree that rewarding the public sector with a huge pay rise and bigger pensions, without any link to productivity improvement, has been a real missed opportunity? This is the chance we have to help the public services, which I very much support, to improve themselves.

More from Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)

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.

Partner sites