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The Civil Service response

The Government has stepped up the pace for the skills agenda for the economy as a whole, and this must be mirrored by action to develop its own workforce. Strategies on human resources, workforce planning, reward and retention, and recruitment and deployment are now beginning to address many of the ‘people’ issues identified in the Capability Reviews of government departments.

To address the skills need in the workforce, Government Skills has initiated a coordinated programme to put in place a more structured approach to skills acquisition and development. This began in 2005 with the introduction of the PSG programme, which included the PSG competency framework [External website].

The framework identified for the first time the set of core and leadership skills which civil servants need to be effective in any role. This has developed into a common language on skills which is now used across departments and nations.

The Skills Strategy, with the PSG competency framework at its core, sets out the collective action needed to equip government's present and future workforce with the skills it needs. The objective is to raise standards and enhance individual performance, improve organisational capability, and ultimately the quality of public services.