Uitermark wants to reform the service for top officials, but experts see vague solutions for non -existent problems

It must be completely different at the top of the civil service, if it is up to Minister of the Interior Judith Uitermark (NSC). The General Administrative Service (ABD), a group of senior civil servants who change function every few years, must be taught more ‘legal awareness’ and content craftsmanship, and the service may also be reduced considerably. In other words, you want to outer and improve Uitermark, but is that going together?

The House of Representatives will discuss the ABD reform in Debate on Thursday. The plans of Minister Uitermark are in line with the broad cut of the cabinet on the central government. In the coming years, every ministry must submit a structurally 22 percent budget for an ‘more efficient and more effective’ government, the Ministry of the Interior wrote earlier. That will not go without shrinking the workforce.

NSC Minister Uitermark has the ABD in sight because the service came under fire after the allowance affair. Under the leadership of senior civil servants at the Ministry of Finance, a large -scale fraud yacht on allowance parents was opened. The then NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt even suggested that in the 2023 election program to completely close up the ABD. Top officials only had to be selected on the basis of ‘affinity’ and ‘(experiential) expertise’ in the relevant policy area.

The rotation system within the ABD also received more and more criticism. Top officials are supposed to change function once every seven years. For example, the exchange of knowledge and contacts between ministries is kept warm, the idea is. However, that rotation system worked a little too well. Not yet third of the senior officials were left in his previous position for a period of five years. As a result, the ministries had a lack of experience, according to an analysis of NRC In 2020. The fear existed that this also lost professional knowledge on the departments too quickly.

Uitermark is now investigating several scenarios to cut the Abd. In the most far -reaching scenario, the service is reduced from a total of 1966 top officials to only 716. The minister wants to reform the Abd at the same time to recover the trust of the citizen in the government after several government scandals, « Uitermark wrote earlier. By focusing more on « legal awareness, professional knowledge and official craftsmanship, » by training top officials, the minister thinks he can achieve this.

‘Problem that does not exist’

Experts are critical and skeptical about the plans of Uitermark. Mirko Noordegraaf, professor of Public Administration at Utrecht University, states that the focus at the ABD is much less on rotating top officials. The average stay of top officials has indeed been improved somewhat since 2019, according to an evaluation of a visitation committee. In 2019, top officials were in place for 4.3 years, in 2023 it had risen to 4.7 years.

« For example, look at Kim Putters, » says Noordegraaf. Putters was allowed to remain director of the Social Cultural Planning Office (SCP) for two years longer than usual, from 2013 to 2022. « It shows that the rotation system no longer knows the hard limits of the past, » said Noordegraaf.

Moreover, according to experts, the ‘new’ emphasis on official craftsmanship and substantive knowledge is too simple: it is short of the quality of the ABD. « Nobody will say about this: what a bad idea, I am against that, » says former top official Roel Bekker, including former Secretary General at the Ministry of Health. But according to him, it makes the suggestion that there is currently a brief of knowledge and craftsmanship within the top official.

I have never met a top official who had no idea how the rule of law works

Wrongly, says Noordegraaf. « You don’t only need professional knowledge for good leadership. » The professor investigated the state of the ABD in 2020 on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior. On his advice, an extensive approach for the selection of senior civil servants has been rolled out: not only is subject content, but also whether the person fits in the context of the position. For example, a top official in youth care should have both knowledge of youth and relationships with municipalities.

The extra focus on legal awareness also makes the eyebrows frown for experts. « It is a solution to a problem that does not exist, » says Martijn van der Steen, professor of Public Administration at Erasmus University. He was the lead investigator of the visitation committee who evaluated the ABD in 2023. « I have never come across a top official who had no idea how the rule of law works, or did not know how legislative processes work. »

According to him and Noordegraaf, that does not mean that there is nothing to improve. For example, the service has a blow when it comes to diversity, they say. Although the gender balance has already improved slightly – in 1995 only 3 percent of the ABD’ers were wife, in 2023 this was 46 percent – the recruitment of senior officials with various cultural backgrounds is still lagging behind. According to Van der Steen, there is a major challenge for the ABD. « But a austerity round will not solve that. »

Cosmetic procedure

The experts see the plans of Uitermark especially as a cosmetic procedure: much seems to change from the outside, without any substantial improvement. This way it remains unclear how much money the austerity will generate. The officials who may no longer fall under the ABD will not lose their jobs.

According to Martijn van der Steen, the proceeds are unclear, but the reform plans are at stake, namely the interaction between policy and implementation. Top officials who are now rotating between ministries and implementing organizations such as DUO take their knowledge and experience with them if they change positions. But if these officials will no longer be part of the ABD, according to Van der Steen, this obviousness will disappear. While Minister Uitermark stated in the announcement of the reform plans that implementation should be central to the work of senior officials.

Van der Steen therefore finds Uitermarks planning paradoxically. « She wants to regain the confidence of the citizen, but that citizen does not notice much of it if top officials only get an extra module to the right for a day. »

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