A tale of two civil servants

In 1959, the year I was born, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Education, the forerunner of today's Department for Children, Schools and Families, was Sir Gilbert Fleming. On announcing his retirement, an education journal described Sir Gilbert as 'much like the pattern of the ideal civil servant'. His mother was a doctor and his father a surgeon. He was educated at Rugby, followed by Trinity College Oxford. After that, his entire career (beginning in 1921), apart from the war years, was spent in the Ministry of Education. In almost every respect, we could not be more different. My father began his working life as a purser on the Clyde steamers and worked until he retired for British Rail. My mother worked at home and brought me up, along with my sister and my two brothers. I went to a large comprehensive in Glasgow and was the first in my family to go to university. In my career, I worked as a teacher and in local government before joining the Civil Service. This it turns out, contrary to what all the cliches suggest, is nothing out of the ordinary anymore. The Civil Service is more diverse and representative of our society than it has ever been. Myths and common misconceptions If you go back to the 1940s and 50s, only one in seven of the most senior civil servants had gone to a state school. Things did change. By the 1960s this figure had increased to one in four and it has been getting better ever since. But, over the decades, one thing hasn't changed - the myths and common misconceptions about what kind of people get to the top of the Civil Service. New research published this week reveals it is not what you might think. The first survey into the socio-economic background of the top 200 members shows that the vast majority of people – about two thirds - went to a state school. If you just look at those who were educated in the UK, the figure rises to almost three quarters. That's a higher number than in many other influential professions; higher than journalists, judges and medics. Put these figures together with research that already exists about gender, such as the fact that women now hold the majority of all Civil Service jobs and more than a quarter of top management posts, and they show that the Civil Service is far more diverse than is often reported. And it is not just in bringing in the right people where we have made progress. Our record of bringing on the most talented people is also encouraging. In the last financial year, nearly a fifth of internal entrants to the senior levels of the civil service originally started at the very bottom - in some of our most junior administrative jobs. This hasn't happened by accident. For many employers, improving diversity has meant improving numbers of traditional diversity groups, such as women, disabled people and people from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. But, in the Civil Service, alongside these groups, it's been one of our priorities to recruit and retain talented people from different educational and social backgrounds as well. Outreach and mentoring programmes Some of our biggest departments have taken part in outreach and mentoring programmes with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The recruitment team for Fast Stream, our graduate entry programme, has started summer internships targeted at often hard to reach groups and the Civil Service is taking part in the apprenticeship scheme. And that's just for people who would like to work for us. Across the Civil Service, there are a whole range of successful schemes in place to ensure the most talented employees, whoever they are, have a better chance of breaking through to the top levels. And it doesn't stop there. This week it was announced that in addition to our research into the top 200, a survey will be conducted on the socio-economic background of the majority of entrants to the Senior Civil Service. This is one of many important recommendations made by the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions in Unleashing Aspiration. We'll also be going further than that recommendation and looking at the backgrounds of entrants to the Fast Stream. When I first joined the Civil Service any preconceived notions I may have had about what a 'typical' member of the Senior Civil Service would be like were quickly laid to rest. Instead I found it to be a place where talent is recognised and encouraged to flourish – with no barriers to success on the basis of people's socio-economic background. But, like many professions, we still have a way to go. For our ambition is that the top of the Civil Service, and indeed the Civil Service as a whole, should truly look like the country we serve. David Bell is permanent secretary, Department for Children, Schools and Families