A ‘more agile, mission-focused and productive’ civil service
The Blueprint | No. 02.2025
Welcome to The Blueprint, our monthly roundup of science and technology. Written and edited by Dr Mann Virdee.
Thoughts from your correspondent on recent developments in science and tech in the United Kingdom (UK)
On Monday, Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister, and Chris Wormald, Cabinet Secretary, sent a letter to all civil servants.
Echoing language from a previous letter the prime minister sent back in December, they stated: ‘the civil service must once again become the engine room of delivery for every person in every part of the UK’. The letter went on to tell civil servants:
Each one of you must be enabled to re-focus on your core purpose, away from the things that hamper your day-to-day work, delivering excellent, high-performing public services that improve people’s lives.
We know many of you feel shackled by bureaucracy, frustrated by inefficiency and unable to harness new technology. Your talent has been constrained for too long. We are determined to empower you – not through words, but action – to maximise the collective power of the state.
Civil service reform is central to Labour’s plans for this Parliament. But it is important to note how the language has been tempered. Previously, the prime minister had been more forceful:
Too many civil servants are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline. [...] I totally get that when trust in politics is so low, we must be careful about the promises we make. But across Whitehall and Westminster that’s been internalised as “don’t say anything”, “don’t try anything too ambitious”, “set targets that will happen anyway”.
This is one area in which Labour and the previous Conservative government agree. Some Labour figures have expressed frustration about the civil service, with one stating: ‘The biggest disappointment of going into government has been the quality of the civil service’, and another arguing: ‘Dominic Cummings was right about Whitehall. But I blame him and the Conservative Party for 14 years of low pay, bad leadership and demoralisation which means we don’t have the right people in the right places.’
To tackle this, Pat McFadden, Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, has outlined plans for a new approach to managing the performance of civil servants. Under new plans, senior civil servants will have performance-related pay, and those who do not meet required standards could be sacked if they do not improve within six months. This is a welcome move that has been long overdue.
But what does it mean for science and tech?
Over three centuries, the UK’s political system and institutions have helped the country navigate big changes gradually, and have helped ensure stability in a way many European neighbours may be envious of. But this can also be a hindrance, with institutional inertia acting as a barrier to change, reducing Britain’s agility to take advantage of the opportunities offered by technology.
Inertia and Institutionalism
When Labour entered office in 1997, the Home Office gave a presentation on crime to Tony Blair, the incoming Prime Minister. As Jonathan Powell, Blair’s chief of staff, recounted, their projections showed that crime would increase if the economy improved – as there would be more things to steal. When pressed on what would happen if there was a downturn in the economy, the Home Office said that crime would also go up in that scenario because there would be more people who would steal things.
This is part of a broader problem, which is that there is no incentive to change. Business as usual is the most straightforward path, and there is no reason or reward for civil servants to change that.
Outsourcing decision-making
There’s also the hollowing out of expertise through increased reliance on consultants – which in reality is a way for decision-making to be outsourced so no one has to bear the blame for making a decision if it turns out to be a bad one. This weakens the civil service in its capacity and capability to carry out work, as well as to own that work, be accountable for it, learn from past experience, and improve for the future.
Related to this is the loss of institutional memory in the civil service with the move of key figures between departments and out of government.
McFadden is right to focus on managing the performance of civil servants. Too many are adding little to nothing of value, and a lack of clear role descriptions makes it easy for poor performance to be hidden.
But there are other steps that need to come alongside this. Low pay is a barrier to attracting talent and expertise from the private sector into government, there are too many generalists, and there is too much movement of staff between government departments.
In addition, the entrance requirements mean that candidates must fit a very narrow profile. It means that civil servants – broadly – have the same strengths and the same weaknesses, leaving systemic holes in civil service thinking. But it also makes it less meritocratic to join the civil service. Writing a strong application is based less on knowledge or expertise, and is more of a tick-box exercise. Many successful candidates I have spoken to recently for my upcoming Primer on civil service reform have said they were hired because they had help from civil servants to write their applications – which suggests the system is broken.
Technological innovations, developments and stories you might have missed
If the release of DeepSeek represented a ‘Sputnik moment’, the release of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Manus, apparently the world’s first fully autonomous Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent, could be the repeat of such a moment. It could mark a shift from AI as an assistant to AI as a self-directed actor. This development challenges Silicon Valley’s dominance in AI, raising ethical and regulatory concerns about AI systems operating without human oversight.
Researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have discovered a cosmic enigma: a supermassive black hole that is rotating at a tilted angle relative to its galaxy’s structure. This discovery was made using new image analysis techniques on archival data. The black hole’s tilted orientation may result from the aftermath of a black hole merger or the presence of a binary black hole system.
Advancement in electron control
Scientists at ETH Zurich have developed a new technique to manipulate electron interactions within materials, offering insights into electron behaviour. This advancement holds potential for applications in quantum computing and nanotechnology.
Your reading list on science and technology
A Strategic Brain for the R&D Ecosystem
Stian Westlake
How to build analytical capability, shared between the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), to provide a timely, detailed source of research and innovation (R&I) analytics to inform decision-making, measure impact, and make the R&I system more intelligible to investors and to the public.
Séb Krier
On the long-term integration of AI agents into the workforce, assuming they become broadly directable and human-level capable.
David Lang
Scientific progress is hindered by a shortage of ‘field builders’ – those who operate between academia, startups, and non-profits to catalyse emerging scientific fields by directing resources, building communities, and championing new ideas.
The Future of Britain’s Economic Statecraft
Sam Currie
Britain has failed to recognise the critical link between economic policy and national power, leaving it vulnerable in an increasingly technological and competitive world. To maintain sovereignty and global influence, the UK must shift toward a strategic industrial policy, fostering high-tech industries that can enhance geopolitical leverage and resilience.
Revealing quotes
‘I think Elon Musk should be expelled from the British Royal Society. Not because he peddles conspiracy theories and makes Nazi salutes, but because of the huge damage he is doing to scientific institutions in the US. Now let’s see if he really believes in free speech’. – Geoffrey Hinton, the ‘Godfather of AI’.
The ongoing row over Musk’s membership of the Royal Society in light of his behaviour and role in the United States (US) ‘Department’ for Government Efficiency (DOGE), including cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and NASA.
See also Musk’s response:
Only craven, insecure fools care about awards and memberships. History is the actual judge, always and forever. Your comments above are carelessly ignorant, cruel and false. That said, what specific actions require correction? I will make mistakes, but endeavour to fix them fast.
Related to this is the decline in Tesla sales in Europe, and the promise of Donald Trump, President of the US, to buy a new Tesla to support Musk.
The prime minister has been urged to use the defence spending boost to revive British manufacturing and strengthen domestic supply chains for the armaments industry, while ensuring small businesses benefit from the spending.
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