The Civil Service needs a mechanism for drafting in outside talent at all levels in crisis situations, like the process used at Bletchley Park in WW2. For example the Ministry of Justice had to deal with greatly disrupted Courts and Prison situations, using a reduced staff. At the same time there were many furloughed solicitors and retired court officials who have great subject matter knowledge who could have helped with the response – where is the mechanism to allow this? A new mechanism to recruit temporary civil servants at speed from outside the civil service as “subject matter experts” is required, either as volunteers or paid staff. The civil service recruitment process for these staff needs to be greatly simplified, with far more weight on actual experience and references rather than the current system which places next to no weight on the actual subject matter knowledge needed in a crisis.
1711-11