To be an exemplary regulator

• Critically assess current methods to drive improvement

   

  • The Commissioners have adopted and implemented our new guide ‘Chairing Competitions - A Guide to the approach of the Civil Service Commissioners’. This brings together in one place clear and comprehensive guidance and resources on how the Commissioners will chair senior competitions.
    
    
  • The Commissioners have published and implemented our Recruitment Principles which are now the key source document to which departments and agencies must refer for the Commissioners’ interpretation of the principle of appointment on merit of the basis of fair and open competition.
    
    
  • The Commissioners have piloted a new compliance monitoring processes in line with the provisions of the Recruitment Principles. For the 2010 compliance monitoring round we will unroll a re-focused approach that will be less process driven and will better identify good practice that can be shared among the HR community.
    
    
  • The Commissioners have outlined a Continuous Professional Development programme to enhance and update our collective skill base.
    

   

• Grow the Commissioners’ analytical capability

   

  • The Commissioners have produced detailed analysis of the results of our audit of departments’ activities in promoting and upholding the Civil Service Code. Detailed feedback has been communicated via Link Commissioner meetings.
    
    
  • The Commissioners have worked with the Cabinet Office to include questions for a common Civil Service staff survey on awareness of the Civil Service Code and confidence in local mechanism for raising concerns. The 2009 staff survey has provided baseline data for future comparisons.
    
    
  • The Commissioners have implemented a new Management Information System to better capture competition data.
    
    
  • The Commissioners are reviewing end-of-competition reporting to ensure that relevant data is captured effectively.
    
    

   

• Consider complementary additions to the Commissioners’ role

   

  • The Commissioners’ role in regulating all appointments to the Top 200, whether open to candidates from outside the Civil Service or not, is now established and the government endorsed this role in the parliamentary debate on the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act.
    
    
  • The government committed to examining whether further additions to the Commissioners’ powers to carry out investigations under the Civil Service Code were required in light of the next Code audit in spring 2011.