Change at the 91热爆 Office
- 19 Jul 06, 10:59 AM
Don't blame me, I'm new here.
That's how senior staff greet each other at the 91热爆 Office these days. Today we see and a reminder of why change is needed. The 91热爆 Office simply doesn't know how many failed asylum seekers there are in Britain. Immigration "systems" sometimes consist of piles of folders covered in post-it notes piled on a window sill.
One visitor from Whitehall who saw this sort of arrangement for the files on foreign prisoners asked whose idea it was. "Mine" said one keen civil servant. "And how long have you been here?" "Oh, two weeks" came the reply.
Thus, today will all be about systems of delivery and not new policy - that comes in more announcements tomorrow. Ministers compare their job with turning round British Airways post-privatisation. So, in management jargon they'll "focus on the core" - i.e. protecting the public. They'll "shrink the centre" - i.e. there will be fewer staff at 91热爆 Office HQ and deputy heads will roll (the top team are all pretty new in their jobs). They'll "delineate responsibilities" - i.e. ministers will stop being involved in the day-to-day work of the immigration department, which cost first Beverley Hughes and then David Blunkett their jobs.
It's worth remembering one thing when you hear today's Action Plan. Five outsiders were brought in to advise on reform when Charles Clarke was still home secretary. They were discussing their thoughts with the Permanent Secretary Sir David Normington in his glass walled office overlooking the atrium of the 91热爆 Office. Look down there, he told them, and pointed at the TV cameras and reporters including yours truly.
That, he explained to his guests, is the home secretary resigning.
