Ministers have been warned that civil servants risk feeling under attack after new guidance banning staff network meetings in working hours was published. The document, which was briefed to the Telegraph, includes a requirement for senior managers to sign off events and stipulates that meetings should take place outside working hours unless they directly benefit the organisation.
The new guidance was broadly welcomed by unions and Whitehall experts for providing clarity about existing rules set out in the civil service code. However, the government was cautioned that briefing the rules exclusively to a newspaper with a history of criticising the civil service could damage the relationship between ministers and staff.
One civil service union source said: 'Work to mend the relationship between civil servants and ministers, which deteriorated so badly under the last government, is undone when policy developments are briefed exclusively to media which have a long history of attacking the civil service. It risks staff feeling under attack at a time when once again they are being asked to do more with less.'
Steve Thomas, deputy general secretary of the Prospect union, said: 'Formalising new rules around staff networks is a sensible step and will add clarity around the civil service code. It is important, however, that this does not represent a weakening of the government's commitment to the importance of EDI and we will be working with the Cabinet Office to ensure this does not happen.'
Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the government was 'taking action to prevent inappropriate uses of networks in the civil service' and that the guidance would ensure network members remain impartial. Alex Thomas, a programme director at the Institute for Government, described the rules as 'reasonably proportionate' but noted that staff networks are valuable for many groups.
