Blunkett Urges Civil Servants To Join Education Crusade
The Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett has called on his entire Whitehall staff to join his crusade to raise education standards.
He gathered all 2,500 civil servants, from Whitehall mandarins to humble clerks, in the massive Westminster Central Hall to tell them of his plans to improve schools and colleges.
In his address, Mr Blunkett urged them to set aside "scepticism" and believe they could play a part in "delivering to people who would otherwise not experience it, equality of opportunity and a chance to learn and a chance to earn."
The meeting turned out to be a cross between a revivalist meeting, with jokes, and the first school assembly with a progressive new headteacher.
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Blunkett: Change of style and substance
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The unprecedented event was part of Mr Blunkett's determined drive to create a new ethos and culture within the Education and Employment Department, turning it outwards towards the people it serves in schools and the Employment Service.
Its mission, said the minister, was to "re-affirm a belief in public service" and to "give the people of this country the chance to enter a new century with a vision that carries them forward from welfare into work."
"I want a change of style as well as substance. I want people coming forward with ideas about how your jobs could be changed and how they could be done better," said Mr Blunkett.
"I offer you a new partnership between politicians committed to carrying through their pledges and officials with the skills and expertise and personal commitment to make it happen," he added.
Today's event is to be followed by similar mass open meetings with staff in Sheffield, Darlington and Runcorn. A video is to be made of the event for the benefit of the tens of thousands of staff in employment benefit offices.
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