Agree on both points but the difference on point 2 is I would say that a large corporate would very publically chuck their staff under the bus as much as the government of the day (of all colours - this is not an anti tory statement) have started to do. A minister can breif the press that anything is actually not their fault and that it is all the fault of meddlesome civil servants yet civil servants can't actually get a platform to reply unless it is via trade unions.

I just don't see that as much in the private sector. Maybe another factor is that if a senior position comes up in a large corporate the jobholder can not immediately appoint their own pals without scrutiny.

Equally when the unions do bite back - as has recently happened say in a lot of work done to fight systematic bullying and discrimination of staff in the Palace of Westminster - it is rarely reported and if a public report offers an unfavourable report that say a minister has bullied staff. The PM simply ignores the findings.

As for use of a tribunal for redress. Yes you are right and it will be a very interesting few weeks.

In my experience (as a senior civil servant of many years,) plenty of people are put through some sort of performance process that could lead to dismissal or if the situation merits it are simply dismissed every year.

In many cases for example computer misuse people are sacked on the spot. It is no longer the case that it was nigh on impossible that you could never be sacked from a civil service job.

What I don't get is if people genuinely believe all civil servants do is turn up late morning spend an afternoon down the pub, have a career rarely troubled by work or responsibility then retire on a hugh pension, why don't they apply for these jobs?

Am I missing something here (haven’t read much about this, just what I’ve heard on the news) - if this information was on a data base isn’t there a back up somewhere up in the cloud / server? Can’t it be restored even if it’s a day or so out?

That is the nub of the matter, apparently not so why not.

One more point

The extra hours worked is evidenced by a working hours survey carried out annually by the FDA Union which represents senior civil servants across all departments. It evidences long hours and early starts/late finishes.

Senior Civil Servants are not paid overtime and do not have a right to hour for hour time off in lieu.

Not saying that does not happen in the Private Sector mind you.

But the point here was/is around accountability and my point remains. This government along with many would be happy to chuck a civil servant under a bus to save a ministers skin. There are some current ministers that had they been head of a large private company would have lost their jobs long ago.

Press 'y' to delete all criminal records. Yeah, right.

Red and Blue Army!