Recommendation 18

Looking to the future, departments face several challenges which may lead to significant changes to their programmes.54 We have seen estimates of a reduction in the size of the civil service of between 5% and 25%.55 The IPA told us that it estimates a skills gap on programmes of around 3,000 across all departments, of which fewer than half may 44 Q 42 45 Q 64 46 Q 67 47 Qq 69, 70 48 Qq 67, 79 49 Q 19 50 C&AG’s report, para 1.13 51 C&AG’s report, para 1.13 52 Qq 10, 13; C&AG’s report, para 1.13 53 Q 10 54 Qq 10, 13; C&AG’s report, para 1.13 55 Q 48 Improving the Accounting Officer Assessment process 13 be considered key positions. HM Treasury, working with IPA, is completing an exercise to understand this position in more detail after taking into account, for example, the potential for efficiency savings as well as constraints.56