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Public Accounts

Yes, we need a much better developed training system for civil servants. I have discussed the issue with Gus O'Donnell, the Secretary to the Cabinet, whom I have great confidence in and who is trying to change the whole culture of Whitehall in terms of training and a more professional approach. We must create almost a convention within Whitehall that someone who gets to the very top as a permanent secretary who advises Ministers must have run a project successfully. That is what happens in the private sector. People do not get to the very top of the private sector in an industrial company simply by advising the chairman or the chief executive on policy; they get there by delivering a successful project on time and on budget.