‘School for Government’ | Civil service launches L&D scheme - will it solve performance pains?

Few institutions have been satirised as extensively in British culture as the civil service.

From Yes Minister to The Thick of It, these windows into Whitehall give us a glimpse of the relentless politics, meltdowns, catastrophes, and red tape that apparently come with a career in public office – albeit at times sensationalised.

They have secured their status as iconic, intensely quotable shows thanks in part to their uncanny ability to capture genuine frustrations faced by civil servants.

Many of the issues that inspired their creators are headaches that still prompt concerns over efficiency, performance, and culture within the civil service. In Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer’s own controversial words, “too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline.”