Union Leader Dave Penman: "It's A Complete Mystery To Me Why Labour Won't Go Further On Standards"
Dave Penman has been general secretary of the FDA since 2021 (Graham Martin Photography)
7 min read
Civil service union leader Dave Penman has accused Labour of ducking the “low-hanging fruit” of reforming ethics and standards in government, telling PoliticsHome it is a “complete mystery” why the party has failed to act despite pledges in opposition.
Speaking to PoliticsHome during Parliament's summer recess, FDA general secretary Penman described the first year of the Labour government as the “start of a journey”.
Having worked for trade unions for 30 years and led the FDA since 2012, Penman said he was starting to see more of a focus on “delivery” from this government, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out her plans for public spending in the spending review in June.
But the union leader is disappointed with Labour’s handling of standards in public life. Last month, the government announced it would go ahead with establishing a new Ethics and Integrity Commission, which was originally intended as a centrepiece of Labour’s constitutional reforms.
In a 2023 speech, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner promised that the new commission would “overhaul the broken system that has failed to stop the spread of corruption” and have the power to take action against ministers who break the rules, on a statutory footing enshrined in legislation.
But now, more than a year since Labour took office, there is still no concrete timeline for when the commission will be established. It will not be placed on a statutory footing, and it will not investigate or enforce consequences in relation to particular cases. The commission will instead work on developing codes of conduct and report annually to the prime minister.
“I met with them [Labour] in opposition to talk about it, and then Labour got into government, and it just seemed to disappear,” Penman said.
“They seem to be operating on the basis that shame is the way that you stop people doing stuff, and if a cabinet minister can't be shamed, then all bets are off. And I thought that was really disappointing for Labour.”
Pay blights so many areas of the civil service
Penman has spent years speaking out about bullying and harassment of civil servants in the workplace, and previously said there was a “moral vacuum” at the heart of the former Conservative government led by Boris Johnson. Now, he believes the problem still lies in ministerial standards being ultimately at the discretion of the prime minister. “If you've got a prime minister who doesn't care about that, then you've got no way of enforcing the standards.”
He said it is “astonishing” that Labour is not moving more decisively: “Government is tough, politics is tough, and I get there are lots of compromises and choices and difficulties. But this is a complete mystery to me.”
A government spokesperson said: “We know the public deserves better and wants security for working people and renewal for our country.
“Our new Ethics and Integrity Commission will report to the prime minister each year on standards across the entire public sector. We have also strengthened the independent powers to investigate Ministers and put an end to Ministerial pay-offs when Ministers are found to have breached the rules. All part of the overhaul that will simplify and strengthen the standards system."
Angela Rayner set out Labour's plans for a new Ethics and Integrity Commission in 2023 (Alamy)
Penman’s sense of frustration is not confined to ethics alone. He said civil servants were still reeling from Keir Starmer’s comments last year that "too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline” – a remark that Penman claimed continues to come up in meetings with union reps.
This, and the ongoing question of pay, has continued to negatively impact morale among civil servants, according to Penman.
However, the FDA is in talks with ministers over a long-term civil service pay framework, and Penman is hopeful that the government is “open-minded” to different solutions.
“Pay blights so many areas of the civil service,” he said. “You can talk about AI, digital skills, leadership, reform – but it’s all overlaid by: how do you recruit and retain the best people after two decades of pay decline?”
He told PoliticsHome that while there is “some dialogue” with ministers about this, he felt they did not yet have a “strong opinion either way” on what this vision could be, made all the more challenging by the fact that the government has still not set out a civil service workforce plan.
I do not understand why there isn't an appetite for them to go further
“It's not going to be easy,” Penman said.
“That's why we were frustrated about it, because we wanted that work to be done in advance of a new government coming in.
“It feels like in the first 12 months [since the election], on a number of issues, we're just starting this process: either the civil service wasn't ready for the government coming in, or ministers didn't really get their head around things. Now it feels like we're in a better place.”
Penman also expressed concern about the ongoing relocation of senior civil service roles outside of London. While he is supportive of the project in principle, he is worried about unintended consequences.
“If you go to Darlington and you can work in the Treasury but no other department, and you can never come back to London because you cannot afford the return ticket – how does that work?”
He wants ministers to build “critical mass” outside London – across the ‘M62 corridor’, for example – so staff have options across departments without uprooting their lives.
Penman is cautiously optimistic that many of these challenges can be met and praises some of the new ministers, singling out Cabinet Office minister Georgia Gould in particular.
The former Camden council leader is now responsible for civil service reform, and Penman said she has an “understanding of public service” and is “really keen to both engage with us and listen to us”.
Georgia Gould was appointed as a Cabinet Office minister shortly after being elected as an MP last year (Alamy)
Yet he warned that Labour’s political tactics – coming from No10 itself – are leaning too much towards appealing to Reform UK voters. “It didn’t work for the last government,” he warned.
And if Reform itself was to gain power, he fears the very impartiality of the civil service would be at risk, as Nigel Farage's party may seek to import a US-style politicised system.
“They [Reform] have been very anti-civil service, and have fundamental issues around how the civil service operates. They would look fundamentally at the contract between ministers and the impartial civil service,” he said.
“A Reform-led government, or a government that was heavily influenced by a formal coalition with the Conservatives, would look to unpick some of those fundamentals, which are really important, my members think are really important about what makes for good government.”
Despite his alarm, Penman insisted the FDA would still have to find ways to “engage politically” with Reform if it was to win power.
A Reform UK spokesperson said in response: “It’s clear that the civil service needs serious reform.
“Civil servants, whether in Whitehall or in local councils, are there to enact the political will of the government, not to block or frustrate elected ministers.”
While pay, workforce planning, and regional relocation are all complex and long-term issues for the government to fix, Penman sees Labour’s handling of ethics and standards as the simplest win that is still being ducked.
“I don't understand why Labour and the prime minister don't realise this,” he said.
“There's no cost to this. This should be low-hanging fruit for them in terms of integrity. I do not understand why there isn't an appetite for them to go further, and I can't get anything from them.”
