Civil Service People Survey

When first launched, the People Survey was intended as a tool to support government departments and agencies in embedding and improving employee engagement. However, the data that have emerged from the survey have revealed themselves to be crucial to a much broader audience: to Parliamentarians, researchers and academics, and trade union representatives. While the Cabinet Office appears to have a strong understanding of the needs of internal users of the data, the same cannot yet be said for external users of People Survey data.

The Cabinet Office should expand its annual engagement with users of the People Survey, to ensure that the needs of external stakeholders are well understood and used to support the development of future survey questionnaires. A summary of this engagement should be included within the technical guide that is published alongside final results each year.

We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge facing the Cabinet Office in translating the many demands for data voiced into a single survey questionnaire. Ultimately, no single source of data will be able to answer all the questions stakeholders have about the experiences and performance of civil servants in the UK. The People Survey is but one piece of a much bigger puzzle.

To maximise the quality of information available on the experiences and performance of the UK Civil Service, the Cabinet Office - in partnership with participating organisations - should continue to develop the broader evidence base. The broad annual snapshots provided by the People Survey should be supplemented with more frequent, timely, and targeted ‘pulse’ surveys, as well as the administrative data already being collected by participating organisations on absence, recruitment, and performance. The Cabinet Office should report publicly on its plans to improve the data available to decision-makers on the experiences and performance of civil servants by the end of

It is not clear what value the Employee Engagement Index offers, beyond consistency with previous years’ results. In drawing together responses on abstract questions on issues such as pride, advocacy, and attachment, it overlooks more tangible issues such as leadership, learning and development, and pay and benefits, where action could usefully be taken.

Fourteen years on from the launch of the People Survey, the Cabinet Office should review the value of its headline Employee Engagement Index, in consultation with users of the survey. This review should consider the degree to which the measure is used to inform decision-making, and whether there may be other, more helpful measures available. The Cabinet Office should provide an update on its plans for this work in its response to this report. (Paragraph 24) 24 Civil Service People Survey

As part of its plan to improve available data on the experiences and performance of civil servants (see paragraph 20), the Cabinet Office should summarise the opportunities that are available for enhancing existing quality assurance processes via the cross- referencing of sources, and which of these it intends to pursue. (Paragraph 30) The dissemination of results

It is not clear to us that withholding People Survey data, so as to time its release with countless publications about Ministerial gifts, hospitality and expenses, is truly a transparent, or helpful, approach to the publication of the important data collected by the People Survey. We similarly find it difficult to believe that, in 2023, it takes a small team of statisticians several months to migrate results from internal dashboards and analyses into a single Excel spreadsheet for publication. Given that data and extensive analyses are readily available across government months ahead of their public release, current delays in the publication of data are indefensible.

We recommend that in future, initial results from the People Survey (including median scores for each question for both the civil service, and individual participating organisations) be published at the point they are distributed to participants, and before the end of the calendar year to which results refer.

When first established, the People Survey was envisioned as a management tool to support public bodies in gauging and promoting employee engagement. But the high-quality data it has generated - a result of excellent work by government statisticians, particularly in the early years of the survey - has proven itself to be invaluable in many more contexts. The People Survey is a unique barometer of how those involved in the day-to-day running of government and the delivery of public services feel about their work, and is an important tool for many in Parliament and academia, who seek to scrutinise the work of the Civil Service, not to mention trade unions, who represent those taking part in the exercise.

The People Survey is a dataset of significant public interest. In future, the People Survey results should be treated and classified as official statistics and be published in full compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The Cabinet Office should formally request the assessment of the People Survey against the Code of Practice as soon as possible and - as part of this work - liaise with the Office for Statistics Regulation for further information on how to apply the Code while protecting the ability of participating organisations to access and use results in a timely fashion. In its response to this report, the Cabinet Office should update the Committee on its progress with this process. (Paragraph 46) Responding to Results

For over a decade, a majority of civil servants have been telling their leaders that they do not believe effective action is taken on the back of People Surveys. External users of the data share these concerns. Given that the Cabinet Office describes the People Survey as a management tool, we were surprised by the lack of robust evidence we received about its impact in driving change across the Civil Service. (Paragraph 54) Civil Service People Survey 25

Empowering departments, organisations and individual teams to respond to issues raised in the People Survey is in many cases a sensible approach. They will be best placed to respond to local issues and specific challenges. But other issues require a coordinating hand. Some of the questions asked in the People Survey concern matters - such as pay and benefits - over which individual departments and organisations have a limited capacity to respond, and these must be addressed at the system-level across the whole of the Civil Service. The Cabinet Office, as the body responsible for the conduct of the People Survey, also bears responsibility for evaluating its impact - not least to inform discussions about the future of the survey.

Departments themselves should develop action plans in response to future People Survey results, which define measurable and timely interventions. These action plans should be included in departmental Annual Reports and Accounts each year. Departments should also evaluate their success in delivering action plans in future, summarising these evaluations in their Annual Reports and Accounts each year.

The Cabinet Office should enhance the support it provides around future People Surveys. Its central HR team should take a more active role both in leading Civil Service wide responses as required, and in tracking organisational and departmental measures taken in response to the People Survey results. Its analytical team, expert as it is on the People Survey, should offer further support to participating organisations and departments who seek to understand results. The Cabinet Office should report on plans to strengthen its coordinating role in its response to this report. (Paragraph 57) Results from the 2022 Survey

Levels of bullying, harassment and discrimination at the Cabinet Office remain a point of concern. We welcome the desire expressed by senior leaders to reduce those levels and are encouraged to learn that a formal programme is in place to address these issues.

The Cabinet Office should report to the Committee on its progress in delivering the ‘A Better Cabinet Office’ programme, in its response to this report. As part of that work, the Cabinet Office should include a thorough evaluation of its success or otherwise in delivering on the recommendations of its earlier Respect and Inclusion Review. (Paragraph 67) 26 Civil Service People Survey