Recommendation 21

Formal departure processes should be set out in writing, requiring ministers and the Prime Minister to explain to the Civil Service Commission—in private if necessary—their decision to remove and replace a senior civil servant . A written record of the decision and the reasons for it should be kept. These processes should be sufficiently flexible to allow a minister to replace at short notice a senior civil servant with whom a working relationship has broken down. However, it is desirable that senior civil servants are given sufficient opportunity to build a positive working relationship with the minister and demonstrate that they can deliver the Government’s priorities. Under no circumstances should civil servants be dismissed on purely political or ideological grounds. (Paragraph 131) Politicisation in appointments and departures