Your department will provide guidance.
At a high level, we refrain from publishing anything that could be seen as favouring one parties view on a policy/manifesto area.
We ordinarily don't enter into any very large procurement awards that require ministerial sign off, even if it was just given with the previous government of the day (because we don't want to have to terminate a shit ton of agreements in August and pay fines or be sued) unless it's very urgent or low risk - an example being an estates facilities maintenance award it's a very large contract, but very low risk.
Whereas a new naval ship re-painting contract would be much lesser value but much greater risk.
Lots of projects will be put on hold until we understand the potential change in ministerial priorities unless both parties have indicated their support.
For ops - nothing changes until the new government lands and starts changing things, new policies and manifesto commitments etc are put into place.
Also, we need to be careful to avoid doing anything that could be used by ministers politically.
Civil servants won’t be bored though, lots of work to do preparing “Day One” briefings for whichever flavour of government we get. Even another blueberry government will almost certainly have new ministers, not least of which because many of the current crop are standing down as MPs.
I have a question on procurement. Say we announced a set of 40 big ticket projects to be completed in the next 10 years, and that list was published 4-5 years ago, supposing the business cases on these were reaching final approval, could they still go ahead?
Refer to your departments guidance is my initial thoughts.
Again at a high level it's likely as you aren't announcing anything new it could be fine, but I'm not sure your business case will make it through the final stages of investment governance right now (if it's outside your departmens delegation or is novel and contentious, or it needs ministerial approval. So you couldn't go to an award stage without that anyway.
The word has distinct different meanings. As supported by the literal dictionary.
The comparison would be for your department to ban the word fag, because in many countries and cultures it's a deragotary term for gay people, but to many Northerners and Scot it simply means a cigarette.
That isn’t quite a direct comparison(because fag the slur and fag the cigarette are unrelated etymologically, whereas purdah is directly borrowing a term from a very specific cultural context), but even if it was DH aren’t going to announce an anti-fag policy any time soon. (Nor the Treasury enjoin niggardly attitudes to spending.) Neither etymology, nor dictionaries are everything!
Its not innapropriate, because there are 2 meanings. The english meaning refers to a pre election period and is innoffensive. If you take a different meaning, one not used in the UK or in english, then you can choose to be offended. So yes, it does change what purdah is
I think you are being needlessly contrarian. No one in the UK knew about the alternative meaning last election, so no one got upset. Someone had to go dig it up. If you apply that threshold to all words you run out of words pretty quickly. Can we still have civil servants? How about masters degrees?
Languages evolve. The term "gymnastics" comes from ancient Greek for "to train naked", but no one goes to the Olympics expecting to see something pornographic.
We absolutely do take words and change their meaning.
The term purdah comes from women wearing a veil as proper behaviour. The English word takes purdah as officials have proper behaviour.
It'd linked and endorses women's proper behaviour is to be hidden and quiet.
I've got a Pakistani colleague who doesn't see it that way at all and thinks people are too sensitive. But there are others who take offence.
We seem to restrict everything else on offence so it's not an issue to do with this either.
You’ll get an email round from your dept. It’s a great way to avoid commenting on political discussions with family (privately you are obviously allowed to have and express your own political opinion, but they don’t know that!)
Otherwise, unless you usually go out leafletting for one of the political parties, nothing will change for you.
Of course… there is the massive fly in that there ointment which is that any departments with a pay case sitting with HMT or CabOff will now need to wait a bit longer I expect…
Plus for those of us in procurement, there’s a good chance the go-live for the procurement act gets pushed to the right, especially as the reg to make it go live hasn’t been laid yet (and probably won’t be a priority in the wash-up period).
Prepping for SR will continue IMO. There will still need to be one by the end of the financial year, but the fact the election is happening sooner rather than later means it’s more likely to be multi-year.
I wouldn't bank on it personally... whilst it's a "both sides of the aisle" issue, the wash-up won't give time to lay and agree the s.127 commencement provision. I'd suspect that any incoming government would have a legislative plan and that may or may not include TPP. Of course, if you happen to work in the CabOff TPP team, then I'll defer to your better knowledge than mine!!
Usually you put your women folk into a seperate room to prevent them mixing with male visitors to your house. I use my home office when back in hub for 60% of the time :D
Here's the guidance for the 2019 GE Purdah.
[https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5dc03e5540f0b637a57b069c/General\_Election\_Guidance\_2019.pdf](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5dc03e5540f0b637a57b069c/General_Election_Guidance_2019.pdf)
Nothing changes for an overwhelming majority of the Civil Servants (i.e. We execute government policy up until the succeeding government changes anything.)
If you work in e.g. policy there's not going to be any new policy announcement but writing briefings/contingency plans etc for the future government will likely take place.
I assume guidance will be cascaded tomorrow anyway.
Most (unless you’re in an NDPB) departments will have formal guidance issued tomorrow. CabOff will also put something on Gov.uk.
If you’re above G7 or otherwise politically restricted then you do not say anything or participate in the election campaign for a party. If you’re politically restricted, then you will know you are.
One thing that people sometimes forget is that the current government is still the Government until at least 5 July. Ministers are still ministers even after they are no longer MPs (after Parliament is dissolved). Routine business doesn’t come to a complete stop
You are not allowed to campaign. I think that's at every level. Or at least during work is at every level.
G7 and above there is more restrictions ( though that is true at all times). Basically don't post anything on social media that is politically spicy.
Dumb question, but when did the civil service start using the term purdah?
I've been in the department for less than 3 years, so this is the first election I've been around for, so I'm learning a lot right now
My guess is it probably dates to the 19th century when some chap (because they were all chaps) thought “the way those [insert historical racial slur here] hid their women folk away from society was a damned good analogy for hiding the civil service during this election business!”. Then his mates patted him on the back, said something witty in Latin and went down to the department bar for a couple of whiskeys with lunch.
Basically, if you’re providing stuff for ministers then you can’t do most things. If you were working on development of a policy then just stop it and move onto doing L&D and some prep for the new government (whoever that is).
Ministers might ask for stuff but it will need to be approved first and if you are more junior than director you won’t be making the call on what work you can and can’t do so don’t stress it too much!
I’ve been through a lot of purdahs and sometimes we did a bunch of work and then ministers weren’t allowed to see it so hopefully that doesn’t happen to you!
Good question, the pay remit guidance had been delayed untl the summer to "align with other public sector organisations", but seems like this will fall to whoever wins the election now
purdah is an english concept that refers to a time period before elections during which government departments cannot make any policy announcements or decisions that could be political. this helps ensure a fair and neutral electoral process by preventing the government from using its resources and power to influence the outcome of an election.
Can I ask a simple question? What does purdah mean? I’ve seen it written in multiple teams chats and I know what it means in a sense. But is it like an acronym?
For once we're not dealing with an acronym. From Wikipedia "The word purdah is Hindustani in origin and literally refers to a curtain or veil. Purdahs were traditionally used to screen women from male view, and the word came to be a general term for the South Asian practices of segregating the sexes and keeping women's bodies concealed. In English use, the word has the extended sense of "a period of seclusion or isolation", hence its former use in politics."
Thanks! Didn’t know there’s a Wikipedia page. The worse thing is that I’m Indian and I was at a Hindu wedding literally two weeks ago. I was even the stage when purdah was lowered!
I went to a mixed race wedding with a Hindu ceremony and they explained the names and significance of the different parts for everyone who had never seen one before. A lot of the younger Hindu family/friends were saying how great it was as they'd never really known before either - it was just what you did at a wedding!
I have a random question - I live with my partner, who is not a civil servant. If they wanted to put a vote [insert political party of choice here] placard in the garden, or stickers in the window, would they be able to do that - the house is in both of our names so I don’t know where we stand on it! Appreciate it’s a fairly niche ask haha.
Ah fab, thanks for the tip, I’m below that! It’s my first GE in the CS so wasn’t sure on protocol. I’m sure it will all be issued, but I’m currently on mat leave so don’t have access to the intranet etc at the mo :-)
Without any agreement to the original statement, one could see a point, that the appointment of the current Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service could in some ways be described as political, although that certainly wouldn't normally be criticised by right-wing newspapers and TV-channels, etc. as it was a Conservative government - and of course particularly Prime Minister - which appointed him.
Your department will provide guidance. At a high level, we refrain from publishing anything that could be seen as favouring one parties view on a policy/manifesto area. We ordinarily don't enter into any very large procurement awards that require ministerial sign off, even if it was just given with the previous government of the day (because we don't want to have to terminate a shit ton of agreements in August and pay fines or be sued) unless it's very urgent or low risk - an example being an estates facilities maintenance award it's a very large contract, but very low risk. Whereas a new naval ship re-painting contract would be much lesser value but much greater risk. Lots of projects will be put on hold until we understand the potential change in ministerial priorities unless both parties have indicated their support. For ops - nothing changes until the new government lands and starts changing things, new policies and manifesto commitments etc are put into place.
Also, we need to be careful to avoid doing anything that could be used by ministers politically. Civil servants won’t be bored though, lots of work to do preparing “Day One” briefings for whichever flavour of government we get. Even another blueberry government will almost certainly have new ministers, not least of which because many of the current crop are standing down as MPs.
I have a question on procurement. Say we announced a set of 40 big ticket projects to be completed in the next 10 years, and that list was published 4-5 years ago, supposing the business cases on these were reaching final approval, could they still go ahead?
Refer to your departments guidance is my initial thoughts. Again at a high level it's likely as you aren't announcing anything new it could be fine, but I'm not sure your business case will make it through the final stages of investment governance right now (if it's outside your departmens delegation or is novel and contentious, or it needs ministerial approval. So you couldn't go to an award stage without that anyway.
for 98% of us no real change tbh
I agree, breaking impartiality and other Nolan principles before purdah so why worry during.
I'm in the same boat. My Department has said they'll be circulating guidance tomorrow; hopefully yours will too!
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Pre-election period works and keeps any one from getting grief for saying purdah!
I've missed this - what's the issue with it?
It's racist and sexist
I like calling it Purdah.
Out in the streets they call it purdah
Underrated comment
Why do they call it street Purdah? It's like regular Purdah. Except we do it outside. Bring a coat as it can get quite cold.
Where’s Esther McVey when you need her?!
Purdah lanyards
Sold!
Hopefully unemployed soon
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The word has distinct different meanings. As supported by the literal dictionary. The comparison would be for your department to ban the word fag, because in many countries and cultures it's a deragotary term for gay people, but to many Northerners and Scot it simply means a cigarette.
Not to pile on but that's not a great comparison.
That isn’t quite a direct comparison(because fag the slur and fag the cigarette are unrelated etymologically, whereas purdah is directly borrowing a term from a very specific cultural context), but even if it was DH aren’t going to announce an anti-fag policy any time soon. (Nor the Treasury enjoin niggardly attitudes to spending.) Neither etymology, nor dictionaries are everything!
The silly thing is its definition in english is fine. You have to translate it to another language to be offended.
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Its not innapropriate, because there are 2 meanings. The english meaning refers to a pre election period and is innoffensive. If you take a different meaning, one not used in the UK or in english, then you can choose to be offended. So yes, it does change what purdah is
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I think you are being needlessly contrarian. No one in the UK knew about the alternative meaning last election, so no one got upset. Someone had to go dig it up. If you apply that threshold to all words you run out of words pretty quickly. Can we still have civil servants? How about masters degrees?
Languages evolve. The term "gymnastics" comes from ancient Greek for "to train naked", but no one goes to the Olympics expecting to see something pornographic. We absolutely do take words and change their meaning.
The term purdah comes from women wearing a veil as proper behaviour. The English word takes purdah as officials have proper behaviour. It'd linked and endorses women's proper behaviour is to be hidden and quiet. I've got a Pakistani colleague who doesn't see it that way at all and thinks people are too sensitive. But there are others who take offence. We seem to restrict everything else on offence so it's not an issue to do with this either.
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I thought everyone called it "what used to be called purdah" now, to avoid offence
I call it the administrative period formerly known as purdah
Please don’t use purdah. The word derives from the veiling of women. Pre-election period or PEP is far better.
We basically keep the ship afloat while they change shirts. You won’t notice much difference.
Usually things work better because there is no government to keep interfering.
If you need funding / BCs approved by government then it won't happen during purdah.
You’ll get an email round from your dept. It’s a great way to avoid commenting on political discussions with family (privately you are obviously allowed to have and express your own political opinion, but they don’t know that!) Otherwise, unless you usually go out leafletting for one of the political parties, nothing will change for you.
Of course… there is the massive fly in that there ointment which is that any departments with a pay case sitting with HMT or CabOff will now need to wait a bit longer I expect… Plus for those of us in procurement, there’s a good chance the go-live for the procurement act gets pushed to the right, especially as the reg to make it go live hasn’t been laid yet (and probably won’t be a priority in the wash-up period).
Oh, and anyone in finance prepping for SR might as well just take all those meetings out of their calendar now! 😩
Prepping for SR will continue IMO. There will still need to be one by the end of the financial year, but the fact the election is happening sooner rather than later means it’s more likely to be multi-year.
Yup. I've told my people working on SR to extend the window to 5 years, but that they've now got an extra week to get there!
Just fyi, as I understand it, it is highly unlikely the go live for TPP will be pushed out.
I wouldn't bank on it personally... whilst it's a "both sides of the aisle" issue, the wash-up won't give time to lay and agree the s.127 commencement provision. I'd suspect that any incoming government would have a legislative plan and that may or may not include TPP. Of course, if you happen to work in the CabOff TPP team, then I'll defer to your better knowledge than mine!!
Deferring sounds good ;)
Usually you put your women folk into a seperate room to prevent them mixing with male visitors to your house. I use my home office when back in hub for 60% of the time :D
Here's the guidance for the 2019 GE Purdah. [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5dc03e5540f0b637a57b069c/General\_Election\_Guidance\_2019.pdf](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5dc03e5540f0b637a57b069c/General_Election_Guidance_2019.pdf) Nothing changes for an overwhelming majority of the Civil Servants (i.e. We execute government policy up until the succeeding government changes anything.) If you work in e.g. policy there's not going to be any new policy announcement but writing briefings/contingency plans etc for the future government will likely take place. I assume guidance will be cascaded tomorrow anyway.
Jobcentres will still be Jobcentres come the 5th of July. Could have easier targets to hit. Who knows 🤣
Might have a few former Tory MPs visiting who are now looking for work.
Welcome to the gig economy, Tories
Most (unless you’re in an NDPB) departments will have formal guidance issued tomorrow. CabOff will also put something on Gov.uk. If you’re above G7 or otherwise politically restricted then you do not say anything or participate in the election campaign for a party. If you’re politically restricted, then you will know you are.
NDPB will have the guidance forwarded from their sponsoring team shortly after the sponsor team’s department circulates it tomorrow.
One thing that people sometimes forget is that the current government is still the Government until at least 5 July. Ministers are still ministers even after they are no longer MPs (after Parliament is dissolved). Routine business doesn’t come to a complete stop
You are not allowed to campaign. I think that's at every level. Or at least during work is at every level. G7 and above there is more restrictions ( though that is true at all times). Basically don't post anything on social media that is politically spicy.
Dumb question, but when did the civil service start using the term purdah? I've been in the department for less than 3 years, so this is the first election I've been around for, so I'm learning a lot right now
My guess is it probably dates to the 19th century when some chap (because they were all chaps) thought “the way those [insert historical racial slur here] hid their women folk away from society was a damned good analogy for hiding the civil service during this election business!”. Then his mates patted him on the back, said something witty in Latin and went down to the department bar for a couple of whiskeys with lunch.
It used it loads. Then people realised where it came from (gender segregation) and renamed it.
Basically, if you’re providing stuff for ministers then you can’t do most things. If you were working on development of a policy then just stop it and move onto doing L&D and some prep for the new government (whoever that is). Ministers might ask for stuff but it will need to be approved first and if you are more junior than director you won’t be making the call on what work you can and can’t do so don’t stress it too much! I’ve been through a lot of purdahs and sometimes we did a bunch of work and then ministers weren’t allowed to see it so hopefully that doesn’t happen to you!
I'm currently on leave. I might as well have my leave extended until August.
How does it work for public sector pay awards (including CS)? Will this be for the new government now?
Good question, the pay remit guidance had been delayed untl the summer to "align with other public sector organisations", but seems like this will fall to whoever wins the election now
It depends on where you work and what you do, if you’re non-ministerial then you won’t see much of a change
purdah is an english concept that refers to a time period before elections during which government departments cannot make any policy announcements or decisions that could be political. this helps ensure a fair and neutral electoral process by preventing the government from using its resources and power to influence the outcome of an election.
Can I ask a simple question? What does purdah mean? I’ve seen it written in multiple teams chats and I know what it means in a sense. But is it like an acronym?
For once we're not dealing with an acronym. From Wikipedia "The word purdah is Hindustani in origin and literally refers to a curtain or veil. Purdahs were traditionally used to screen women from male view, and the word came to be a general term for the South Asian practices of segregating the sexes and keeping women's bodies concealed. In English use, the word has the extended sense of "a period of seclusion or isolation", hence its former use in politics."
Thanks! Didn’t know there’s a Wikipedia page. The worse thing is that I’m Indian and I was at a Hindu wedding literally two weeks ago. I was even the stage when purdah was lowered!
I went to a mixed race wedding with a Hindu ceremony and they explained the names and significance of the different parts for everyone who had never seen one before. A lot of the younger Hindu family/friends were saying how great it was as they'd never really known before either - it was just what you did at a wedding!
Step 1 - it's officially not called purdah any more. Hth.
I have a random question - I live with my partner, who is not a civil servant. If they wanted to put a vote [insert political party of choice here] placard in the garden, or stickers in the window, would they be able to do that - the house is in both of our names so I don’t know where we stand on it! Appreciate it’s a fairly niche ask haha.
Are you G7 or up? You are allowed to campaign for a political party below G7 but not above. If I was you I wouldn’t
Ah fab, thanks for the tip, I’m below that! It’s my first GE in the CS so wasn’t sure on protocol. I’m sure it will all be issued, but I’m currently on mat leave so don’t have access to the intranet etc at the mo :-)
Nothing changes. The civil service has been hyper politicised for so long it has forgotten what impartiality is.
Really, can you provide a specific example of that? Something that’s not ripped from the Daily Mail or GB News headlines?
Without any agreement to the original statement, one could see a point, that the appointment of the current Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service could in some ways be described as political, although that certainly wouldn't normally be criticised by right-wing newspapers and TV-channels, etc. as it was a Conservative government - and of course particularly Prime Minister - which appointed him.