1. The Politics Association
AS Government and Politics
Powerpoint Presentation - 10
The Civil Service

2. A Civil Servant -A Civil Servant -
A servant of the Crown (the
government) who is employed in a
civilian capacity (not a member of the
armed forces) and who is paid wholly
and directly from central government
funds (not local government,
nationalised industries, or quangos).

3. And the History . . .And the History . . .
• Term ‘civil service’ – possible origin in the East India
Company, which ran India for the British government
between 1600 and the 1860s.
• ‘Civil’ servant = civilian employee, not a member of the
military.
• Before the 19th
century – no need for a large government
bureaucracy.
• Entry / promotion by patronage.
• Northcote-Trevelyan Report (1854) – set up by Gladstone to
investigate the civil service. Recommended grades of civil
servant, in-service training, entry by examination,
generalists rather than technical specialists, promotion by
merit.

4. Who are the Civil Servants?Who are the Civil Servants?
Broad structure of civil service – based on three basic groups:
1. Service-wide groups – general administrators.
2. Service-wide specialists – i.e. statisticians, economists.
3. Departmental groups & agencies – tied to specific government
departments or hived off to an agency i.e. Prison Service Agency.
 50% of all civil servants engaged in provision
of public services.
 25% employed in Ministry of Defence.
 25% divided between Administration Group,
support services and self-supporting services
(National Savings, Royal Mint).
 4/5 civil servants work outside London.

5. At the very top –At the very top –
five levels of the civil service:five levels of the civil service:
1. Permanent Secretary
2. Deputy Secretary
3. Under Secretary
4. Assistant Secretary
5. Various

6. Role of the modern civil serviceRole of the modern civil service
Role clarified in a memorandum written by the Head
of the Home Civil Service, Sir Robert Armstrong, in
1986. The Armstrong Memorandum (1986)
Civil Servants should be –
1. IMPARTIAL – to engage in no political activity
and to implement policy regardless of who is in
power.
2. ANONYMITY – to work behind the scenes and
to preserve the confidentiality and discretion of
their department.
3. NEUTRAL - a civil servant may disagree with a
particular policy yet he/she must remain neutral
from party politics.
The Armstrong Memorandum (1986)
Civil Servants should be –
1. IMPARTIAL – to engage in no political activity
and to implement policy regardless of who is in
power.
2. ANONYMITY – to work behind the scenes and
to preserve the confidentiality and discretion of
their department.
3. NEUTRAL - a civil servant may disagree with a
particular policy yet he/she must remain neutral
from party politics.

7. Reforming the Civil ServiceReforming the Civil Service
• 1968 The Fulton Report
• 1979 Efficiency Unit
• 1982 Financial Management Initiative (FMI)
• 1988 ‘Next Steps’
• 1991 Citizen’s Charter

8. New Labour & the Civil ServiceNew Labour & the Civil Service
Citizen’s Charters
• Citizen’s Charters replaced by ‘Service First’.
• No attempts by New Labour to overturn Conservative reforms.
• Criticisms of continued politicisation of the civil service.
Next Steps
• By 2000, 76% of civil servants worked in executive agencies
managed by Chief Executives.
Private Finance Initiative
• Retained by Labour.
• Renamed ‘Public-Private Partnership’.
• Expanded.
• Future method of funding construction of schools and hospitals.

9. New Labour & the Civil Service (ii)New Labour & the Civil Service (ii)
1999 White Paper
‘Modernising Government’
• ‘Better government to make life
better for the people.’
• Civil servants encouraged to be
innovative.
• Service delivery to be
‘excellent’.
• Whitehall to be staffed by more
and more outsiders.
• 24 hour service where demand
exists.
‘ . . . joined up government’.
The Wilson Report
•Richard Wilson - Cabinet Secretary,
Head of Home Civil Service.
•Wilson’s report – Civil Service response
to White Paper.
•Aim of report – diverse, open and
professional civil service. Wilson
suggested:
•greater leadership at top of civil
service.
•more outsiders, more in-service
training.
•‘performance management’ to be
improved.
•greater diversity – targets set for
recruitment of women,
•disabled people and ethnic minorities.

10. New Labour & the Civil Service (iii)New Labour & the Civil Service (iii)
White Paper / Wilson Report reforms have been implemented.
• April 2002 – 500,000 civil servants.
• April 2002 – 3,429 senior civil servants.
• Appointments to senior posts – 50% increase in posts filled
from open competition.
• 66% of posts filled by outsiders.
2002 – new Head of Home Civil Service – Andrew Turnbull,
career civil servant.
• Position not externally advertised, other contenders were from
career civil service backgrounds.

11. New Labour & the Civil Service (iv)New Labour & the Civil Service (iv)
Turnbull’s Reforms
Cabinet Office strengthened with a ‘reform and delivery
team’.
Focus for civil servants now, administration – policies left
to politicians.
Threat of bonus cuts for Permanent Secretaries who fail to
deliver the government agenda.

12. New Labour & the Civil Service (v)New Labour & the Civil Service (v)
Criticisms of New Labour Reforms
• Civil service – ‘too politicised’.
• Richard Wilson (before retirement) called for a ‘Civil Service Act’ to
protect neutrality of the Civil Service.
• Calls for clearer boundaries between ‘government and party’.
• ‘Blairites have wrecked the best of the civil service’. (Hugo Young,
‘Guardian’ 25 June 2002.
• Posts filled through open competition may have increased – but from
a very low starting point: so not that impressive.
• Difficult minister/official relationships – accusations of ‘bullying’.
General criticisms include:
• Still too much focus on ‘value for money’.
• Not enough focus on ‘public service ethos’.
• ‘Business values’ are not always appropriate in the public sector’.