Matthew Hancock calls upon the Civil Service to show some empathy. Does he understand the concept of irony?

Matthew Hancock MP

I am not a huge fan of Matthew Hancock, the MP for West Suffolk. He gives every impression of being lucky that George Osborne is his sponsor.

It is probably a sign of his closeness to George that he has become a Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, and it was in that capacity that he gave a speech to the Institute for Government on Monday, as part of a series entitled "Where next for Public Sector Markets?" (one might argue that the first problem is in the title).

In his speech, he set out three principles for harnessing ingenuity - empathy, curiosity and openness. So, let's see...

Empathy

Civil servants are expected to show empathy with those they serve. Frankly, most of the best public servants I have encountered show empathy in spades, But, when your pay is being cut year on year, your workload is increasingly process-driven and tickbox directed, and your colleagues increasingly noticeable by their absence whilst you chase targets seemingly designed to draw you away from the desired goals in pursuit of things that can be measured rather than outcomes, there is little reward for demonstrating such a personality facet.

Curiosity

I am indeed curious. My job requires me to be extremely curious, in a way that makes my customers somewhat nervous. Most Civil Service managers would probably like to be curious too, but given that they appear to spend most of their time gathering in, and reporting statistics that add little to the sum of human knowledge and distract them from the perhaps more useful task of enabling staff to achieve the desired outcomes, there is little time for that.

And, given that our overlords don't want too many questions to be asked - and I mean Government, not the mandarins - about the workings of government, it does seem that they offer us a contradiction.

Openness

I am intrigued that, whilst wanting the Civil Service to operate in an open and transparent manner, moves to limit the right of the public to pry into the workings of government through restrictions on freedom of information are being considered, courtesy of a packed committee tasked with looking into 'reforms'.

In truth, I'm relaxed about openness in government. It is, after all, your government, and if government is being done to you, you should at least understand why I'm doing it, as well as the context within which I am operating. I've always been happy to explain - it makes for a more honest relationship between governing and governed.

So, Matthew Hancock might be advised to go away and read the speech that, I suspect, someone else wrote for him. He might learn something about empathy, curiosity and openness, and how they might be best applied in seeking to reform public services.

I am not holding my breath though...