The Ibbs Report and the Civil Service Unions

This article aims to provide an initial assessment of the response of the civil service unions to the government′s most recent initiatives on management and working practices in ministerial departments. It considers in particular the Ibbs Report on “Improving Management in Government”, the most publicised of recent documents emerging from the Cabinet Office. A fairly wide ranging approach is adopted in order that the historical context of the report, and its consequent importance, may be appreciated. The core of the article is the result of interviews with senior officials from the main civil service unions. An assessment is made of their perceptions of the report and its implications for the civil service. It is argued that the ambivalence towards Ibbs evident in the positions of the various unions is a result of the divisions that exist between them, and of the heterogeneity of the civil service itself. Consequently any opposition from the unions is severely constrained, although obstacles to implementation may arise elsewhere.