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A central government drive to poach high-performing council managers is ‘inevitable' as pressure mounts on Whitehall to improve its delivery and finance skills, the chief executive of SOLACE has warned. "It's inevitable that Whitehall will seek to recruit top-performers in local government if these plans and recommendations are adopted – they've been doing that for the past five years." Dave Clark, SOLACE chief executive Fears of a local government ‘brain drain' were sparked this week, after senior Conservatives urged Whitehall to recruit experienced council managers to fill key roles, while an influential think-tank called on mandarins to adopt local authority-style financial management. In response, David Clark, SOLACE chief, told The MJ: ‘It's inevitable that Whitehall will seek to recruit top-performers in local government if these plans and recommendations are adopted – they've been doing that for the past five years. ‘Lin Homer, for example, a former council chief executive, was recruited to the UK Border Agency to deliver possibly the hardest job in government – dealing with immigration. Darra Singh [formerly chief executive at Ealing LBC] was recruited to head the largest agency in the UK, Jobcentre Plus.' Local government sources said they were ‘alerted' to the risk that councils could lose talented managers as political parties rolled out plans for improved working between central and local government, such as the Total Place agenda. Ministers and Cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, have been keen to bring local government's ‘delivery' expertise into Whitehall since Cabinet Office reviews exposed severe skills shortages. Conservative Party figures are considering recruiting high-performing local government chief executives to fill senior civil service roles vacated after the general election. It followed speculation that nine Whitehall permanent secretaries could leave their posts if the Conservatives win. One senior Tory told The MJ: ‘We have seen an opportunity to bring in people who have a range of expertise and [to] drive better decision-making at the centre.' Echoing the aims of Labour's Total Place agenda, which will see central government become a strategic ‘commissioner' of services, and push delivery further towards local authorities, the source added: ‘It would also enable power to be driven down to local level.' The Institute for Government (IfG) think-tank, led by former council chief, Sir Michael Bichard, also published a report on 18 January urging Whitehall to look further afield for specialist skills. Shaping up: a Whitehall for the future deals predominantly with improving central government. But it suggests Whitehall could draw on local government expertise to improve financial decision-making. One suggestion is to empower departmental finance directors by promoting them to director-general level, with full board membership, and allowing them to over-rule spending decisions, as they can within town halls. ‘The Government should… consider giving finance directors the same kind of power to freeze spending that is granted to local authority finance officials under Section 114 of the 1972 Local Government Act,' the report states. It adds this would ‘strengthen the demand for top-quality finance professionals in Whitehall'. Experts suggested one way to do this would be to recruit directly from local government and the private sector, where senior finance officers are experienced at over-ruling other managers. But Jonathan McClory, co-author of the IfG report, said the benefits of moving into central government from town halls were limited. Some external recruits, he said, became ‘frustrated' with Whitehall's hierarchal culture. ‘Departments have made outside appointments – but they don't always work out. Often the people recruited are used to being the "number two" in their organisations but, in Whitehall, finance directors don't always have the same say over spending or priorities. We think they should,' he said. The IfG report also urges Whitehall and councils to take ‘collective ownership' of policies, working closer together to deliver service improvements. Responding to suggestions that Whitehall reforms could initiate a ‘brain drain' from councils, Mr Clark said: ‘We shouldn't over-state this – we're not talking about a mass exodus. Local government is capable of replacing high-performers. We have a large pool of talent. Another senior local government source added: ‘The quid pro quo should be that local government must benefit from sharing expertise from the centre.'

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WHITEHALL

Whitehall set to poach top-performing talent

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