The government’s decision to spend millions of pounds teaching civil servants storytelling techniques and ways to create a “powerful presence” had been attacked by a former Conservative minister.
Lord Agnew, the ex-minister for efficiency who quit earlier this year, said it was “ludicrous” to have handed millions of taxpayers to private firms for the training of government staff.
One six-day workshop on “creating a powerful personal presence” is run by drama tutors from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at a cost of nearly £1,400 per person.
The Rada-run workshop teaches “techniques from theatre practice” on how to “use your body and voice as tools for effective communication and leadership”.
The Independent’s columnist Cathy Newman has revealed that other courses supplied by private firms include “leading without authority” – which sets the taxpayer back £1,116 per person – and a “leading in ambiguity” course at £229.
The unusual training courses form part of a £50m contract for civil service “learning and development” handed to consultants KPMG in 2020.
Lord Agnew told The Independent that he had raised the alarm about the civil service training while at the Cabinet Office, asking a series of questions about whether courses represented value for money.
On the idea of handing millions of pounds to private consultancies for training, the Tory peer said: “It’s ludicrous we have to outsource a core competence of being a manager.”
Lord Agnew said: “I asked the head of the civil service in August 2020 how much we spend on training. I got the answer in January this year. ‘We spend £190m – £610m on training but we don’t know how it’s spent’.”
The ex-minister, who quit over the failure to tackle Covid scheme fraud, added: “It took 16 months [to get an answer]. And there was nothing about the efficacy of the training.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, minister for Brexit opportunities and efficiency within the Cabinet Office, has been on a drive to eliminate government waste and reduce the size of the civil service.
Last month Boris Johnson asked Mr Rees-Mogg and other cabinet ministers to draw up plans to axe more than 90,000 civil service roles.
The efficiency minister – who raised eyebrows in April by leaving ominous notes on the desks of civil servants still working from home – said the job cuts would bring numbers back to 2016 levels.
It is understood that the Cabinet Office monitors all of its training courses to ensure they provide value for money, including the initial award of the contract.
But a government source said: “it isn’t clear how courses like this actually help civil servants do their jobs or what real skills they give them”.
Asked for a response to the courses, a government spokesperson said: “Training across the civil service is designed to cover a wide range of areas and specialities, to make sure government employees have the best possible skills to deliver the services the public rely on.”
