Frontline Experience Is Essential

摘要

In his article in the last Whitehall focus in The MJ (6 November), minister for local government, John Healey, underlined the need for senior civil servants to 'get out to get on', and gave illustrations of what he meant, namely, civil servants moving into delivery organisations, such as local government. He is, of course, absolutely right, but the roots of what appears to be a growing disconnection between this country's citizens and those who govern us go much deeper than this move which will, of itself,, only go so far in addressing the issue. The roots are threefold - the all-too-often absence of frontline face-to-face experience - not just managerial experience; the growing complexity of the structures that govern us; and the growing alienation of people from politics.