Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
17
There has been high turnover among staff working on EU Exit, particularly at senior levels.
Conclusion
There has been high turnover among staff working on EU Exit, particularly at senior levels. DExEU has had three Permanent Secretaries, the Border Delivery Group has had three Director-Generals, and there have been changes at Permanent Secretary grade in key Departments impacted by EU Exit, including Defra and HMRC.46 The Cabinet Office believes that the large majority of staff who left DExEU during its operation or since it was disbanded, have either returned to their ‘parent’ departments or, in the case of fast streamers, moved on to another role. While we asked the Cabinet Office whether efforts were made to capture learning from these staff before they returned to their departments or moved elsewhere, there was no indication that any specific activity had been undertaken.47
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
4: PAC conclusion: EU Exit preparations involved more than 22,000 civil servants at the peak and have cost at least £4.4 billion. 4: PAC recommendation: The Cabinet Office should conduct a formal review, including seeking input from third parties (particularly the devolved administrations and local government) and covering the whole period of preparations. This should be done early in 2021 when there’s a chance to see how plans have held up in reality post-transition. It should cover structures, communications and oversight—areas which can be applied to other cross-government undertakings. 4.1 The government disagrees with this recommendation. 4. 2 The government is committed to continuous improvement. It has been engaged in the EU Exit processes in various forms over the past four years and have engaged in iterative learning processes in parallel. There have been lessons to learn every week and every month, and the Committee has acknowledged some of the notable improvements it has made to our approach to planning as a result. Regarding resourcing in particular, lessons learned through EU Exit have been critical in informing the approach to cross-government resourcing, which has already enabled the government to pivot its approach to support the response to COVID-19. 4.3 This mode of continuous improvement also helps us to avoid complacency and any suggestion that nothing can be learned or changed until a formal review has been conducted. 4.4 Although the government is not proposing to do a formal review of all preparations, it is grateful to the National Audit Office for having conducted an extensive review and welcomes their findings.