Civil Service

In contrast to Germany, the Civil Service in the UK works differently. Next to a the political arm there is the administrative arm, staffed by permanent civil servants contrasting the parliamentary government and MPs of the day who come and go. A civil servant works as a neutral administrative body for the elected government, or more precisely for a governmental department . They are the objective right hand and adviser of their minister in Cabinet, that is why ministers depend on their civil servants to bring further their political aims. Civil servants need to be neutral and impartial in their job to support the minister developing his/her policies as effectively as possible. Sir Gus O'Donnel, who is Head of the Home Civil Service in the UK since 2005, describes the task of the Civil Service as follows: "We aim to provide high-quality advice and support to the Government and help deliver world-class public services, while consistently applying our core values of honesty, objectivity, integrity and impartiality." (http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/) Nevertheless, the minister is expected to protect its servant and take not only the credit but also the blame for their actions as it is the minister who decides on policies and is responsible for the department. The civil servant implements the policies and stays anonymous as adviser. As the servants act and work as neutral and loyal servants in the name of their minister, they enjoy a particular proctetion of their anonymity, neutrality and impartiality, which are the main principles of the civil service. Their job is based on professional competence rather than political opinion. The idea of permanence refers back to the association of the civil servants being servants of the Crown and not of the always changing government. As servants of the Crown there are some restrictions to their political actions and freedom. Once introduced as parliamentary candidate a civil servant has to resign because of losing impartiality. That is also why they are expected to remain silent in public on political or other controversial matters. All these principles are linked as permanence depends on objectivity, which is underlined by anonymity. Currently there are 479,000 civil servants employed. Parliamentary employees as well as those working in the public sector are not considered civil servants as would be e.g. in Germany.

Strains/ Demand for Reforms

Since some decades, people have argued about the structure and role of the civil service and raise some principles to question. The old relationship of minister and his personal civil servant has come under strain. As civil servants can be asked in Parliament on their political actions as well, the principle of anonymity cannot be retained as the officials become known in public by being questioned. Another question is, how politicians can be made responsible for actions of civil servants that they have only little knowledge of. Of course, there is the general doubt of real impartiality and that civil servants really are completely objective. They have to make decisions that bring forward the politicans rather than the country as they might have more influence than supposed with their recommendations. Politicisation is still a matter of a growing debate. There has also been much critique about the efficiency and responsiveness of the civil servants to their ministers as well. One of the first attempts to reform the civil service was made in 1965 by the Fulton Committee regarding the structure and management of the civil service. In 1968 the committee published some recommendations which included demands of the promotion of more specialist recruits and the foundation of a Civil Service College to train the special skills.

The Impact of Thatcher and Blair

When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, the Conservative Party contradicted the civil service to a great extent. The number of servants was reduced from about 750,000 (1979) to under 524,000 (1995), which mirrors the dislike of the civil service and the public sector. Margaret Thatcher is believed to have politicised the civil service by promoting people from her own rows. Thatcher introduced free-standing agencies with direct contact to the public for each department. She wanted these agencies to be independent and not to have that much ministerial influence anymore but were give new tasks such as cutting the public spendings. About three-quarters of civil servants work in such agencies by 2000. Also Tony Blair wanted to change the civil service. The Labour Party wanted to the lead the civil service away from their traditional task to a more modern interconnected government - rather than a departmental one - that focusses more on the outcome. Blair wanted a cabinet of additional political supporters for ministers in order to get alternative opinions. In the course of the modernisation the individual should be made responsible for their activities, not only the minister himself so that minister and civil servant have greater accountability to Parliament.

References

The Civil Service. <http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/> 03 July 2011.

Jones, Bill and Kavanagh, Dennis. British Politics Today. 7th ed. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003.

Wright, Tony. British Politics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.