Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle goes next.
Q: The Conservative spad website says the No 10 communications director would be ultimately responsible for all hiring decisions. Is that correct? Or is the PM ultimately in charge?
Sedwill says the website is not a matter for him.
Q: Will the government benefit from having more weirdos and misfits in government?
Sedwill says he likes Gus O’Donnell’s take on this; O’Donnell, a former cabinet secretary, said anyone willing to work long hours for less money than they would get elsewhere could be considered a weirdo or a misfit.
Sedwill says he would not necessarily use these terms. But he supports the idea of trying to bring in new people into government who might have something to contribute.
- Sedwill says that in principle he approves of Dominic Cummings’ desire to bring more ‘weirdos and misfits’ into government.
Updated
Q: A new spad website has been set up. How is that being handled?
Sedwill says that is nothing to do with him. That is a Conservative party matter. He says it is up to politicians to identify advisers they might want to recruit.
Q: So who pays for it?
The Conservative party, says Sedwill.
He says Jack Straw, who he used to work for, ran a recruitment process when he was looking for special advisers.
He says after ministers have identified people they want to hire, the civil service then brings them into the system.
Q: Do you decide salaries?
Sedwill says that is a government minister. Various rules apply.
Sedwill says anyone operating on behalf of the PM has to operate with his authority, and ultimately with his approval.
And he says the PM is the ultimate arbiter of the ministerial code. He says he can only advise the PM on this.
Q: Can you tell us about the new HR adviser being appointed to oversee special advisers (Spads)?
Sedwill says the government has been trying to provide more professional HR support to spads.
He says spads serve with the consent of the PM. If that consent is withdrawn, statutory employment rights apply.
Q: When is the review of spads’ employment terms going to end?
Sedwill says it is not a “capital R” review.
Q: Do spads join a trade union?
Sedwill says they can. Some join the First Division Association.
Q: How will ones like the Sonia Khan incident be resolved in future?
Sedwill says he cannot discuss this specific case.
But he says any special adviser who loses their job has statutory employment rights.
Q: Does the ministerial code need to be rewritten?
Sedwill says spads are part of collective government, but normally they have a close relationship with their minister too.
Q: There has been media speculation that you could not focus properly on the problems in the Home Office because of your national security role?
Sedwill says he was on leave some of the time during this period. He would have been on leave even if he had not been national security adviser. But he was in touch constantly anyway.
He says the composition of the job has changed in the past, and will change again in the future.
David Mundell, the Tory former Scottish secretary, is asking questions now.
Q: There has been a lot of criticism of your “double jobbing” (Sedwill being national security adviser and cabinet secretary). How do you respond to that?
Sedwill says this is not a new issue. In the past the cabinet secretary was also running the civil service, doing the job that John Manzoni does.
He says, as cabinet secretary and national security adviser, his responsibilities overlap with the PM’s.
He says before 2010 there was no national security adviser. Before 2010 the cabinet secretary also oversaw national security.
Q: Is there anything that the permanent secretary to the Scottish government does not have to report to you?
Yes, says Sedwill. He says he would not expect the Scottish government’s permanent secretary to tell him about Scottish government policy.
Q: If there was a problem in devolved administrations, would the permanent secretary come to you?
Sedwill says the cabinet secretary could become involved.
Q: Has the permanent secretary in the Scottish or Welsh government ever had to report misbehaviour by a first minister to you?
Sedwill says there is a limit to what he can say on this case. But he says the system as he described (that ultimately a complaint would be brought to him) has applied.
Q: Why is the Northern Ireland civil service considered a separate service, but not the Scottish and Welsh civil service?
Sedwill says the Northern Ireland civil service is separate because the Irish civil service was separate before 1922. That separation continued after 1922, he says. But he says they try to bind the Northern Ireland civil service into the GB one, so that they have access to the same talent pool.
Q: Do permanent secretaries still have weekly meetings?
Yes, says Sedwill.
Q: And government policy is discussed there?
Yes, says Sedwill. They also talk about civil service capabilities.
Q: Do the permanent secretaries of the Scottish and Welsh government attend?
Normally yes, says Sedwill. But he says that was not the case during the 2014 referendum (when the UK government and the Scottish government were at odds over independence).
Sedwill says these meetings are normally information sharing meeting.
Sedwill says he is the line manager for the head of the civil service for the Scottish government and the Welsh government.
But he says, in that situation, the first minister is equivalent to a cabinet minister, who is expected to get on with the permanent secretary of their government, but also equivalent to the UK PM, in that they have the final say.
Q: So if the Scottish government managed to stop Brexit, you would have given the permanent secretary of the Scottish government five stars for implementing Scottish government policy.
Sedwill says (jokes?) that that would depend on whether or not the Scottish government’s civil service deserved the credit.
Q: Would you describe yourself as the line manager for permanent secretaries?
Sedwill says he is their line manager. He conducts annual performance appraisals.
He says he has had to have a conversation where someone’s performance was “off the pace”.
- Sedwill says he has had to tell permanent secretaries to improve their performance.
The SNP MP Ronnie Cowan asks about Sir Philip Rutnam’s accusations against Priti Patel.
Sedwill says there is a limit to what he can say. He says Rutnam has threatened legal action, although he has not initiated that yet.
Q: But where could someone like Rutnam go with a complaint like that.
Sedwill says, speaking generally, a permanent secretary could take it to him. He might take it up with the PM.
Q: Have you ever warned a PM before appointing someone to cabinet?
Sedwill says his advice to the PM. But before cabinet appointments are made, he gives advice, based on what he knows.
Q: Would that be a private matter if you were asked about that at an employment tribunal?
Sedwill says he would have to take legal advice on that. But he would not expect to have to disclose that.
- Sedwill indicates that he would not want to tell an employment tribunal about any advice be gave to the PM before he appointed Priti Patel as home secretary.
Sedwill says he regards the resignation of Rutnam as a “regrettable incident”.
But he says he does not see the need for “further regulations” governing the relationship between permanent secretaries and cabinet minister. In most cases, the status quo works, he argues.
- Sedwill says he does not see the case for new rules governing official/ministerial relations in the light of Philip Rutnam’s resignation.