Civil Service PDF

The Civil Service The Civil Service does the practical and administrative work of government. It is co-ordinated and managed by the Prime Minister. Civil Servants work alongside government to direct policies. There are a strict set of rules in a code of conduct they must follow. Around half of all c...

The Civil Service The Civil Service does the practical and administrative work of government. It is co-ordinated and managed by the Prime Minister. Civil Servants work alongside government to direct policies. There are a strict set of rules in a code of conduct they must follow. Around half of all civil servants provide services directly to the public, including paying benefits and pensions, running employment services, staffing prisons and issuing driving licences. The scale, complexity and impact of the work civil servants do is unrivalled. The Civil Service employs 420,000 people across the country and overseas. Their work is everything from advising ministers on policy, to delivering front line services to the public. Civil servants could be working as a vet, a customer service adviser, a weapons engineer, a marine biologist or a web developer, to name a few. Impartiality and role of Civil Servants The civil service as such has no constitutional personality or responsibility separate from the duly elected Government of the day. It is there to provide the Government of the day with advice on the formulation of the policies of the Government, to assist in carrying out the decisions of the Government, and to manage and deliver the services for which the Government is responsible. The duty of the individual civil servant is first and foremost to the Minister of the Crown who is in charge of the Department in which he or she is serving. They should do this without showing any political bias meaning that they should be impartial. Senior Civil Servants There are around 4,000 senior civil servants who work with government departments in a non- political role. Their jobs are permanent and not affected by the outcome of elections. Senior Civil Servants will undertake the preparations and presentation of new policies and are experts in their particular area. They often advise ministers, especially those newly appointed, on policies minister wish to present at government. Day to day senior civil servants will prepare legislation, find out answers to parliamentary questions, brief their government minister, manage the policies as they progress through the law- making process and meet with representative of different groups. The Civil Service Code: The Civil Service Code, forms part of the terms and conditions of every civil servant. It was first introduced in 1996 and has been updated several times since. The Four Core Values outlined in the code are: q ‘integrity’ is putting the obligations of public service above your own personal interests q ‘honesty’ is being truthful and open q ‘objectivity’ is basing your advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence q ‘impartiality’ is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political persuasions The Civil Service Code describes the standards of behaviour expected of individual civil servants against each of these four values  Civil service debate Duncan Simpson, research director at the Eliot Wilson, head of research at Right TaxPayers’ Alliance. Angles. The “Rolls Royce” reputation of the civil Dominic Cummings is a force of nature. service has long been in question. From He was ridiculed when appointed, but hugely overpriced procurements in the crushing election win has vindicated defence and transport, to overly-anxious his strategy. Now he wants to turn his advice on EU exit negotiations, the iconoclasm on the civil service. It’s supposed brilliance and impartiality of our unlikely to end well. Cummings’ previous ideas of slimming The civil service is a delicate structure, down cabinet and filling the civil service which serves several masters and with genuine project management customers. It’s a product of evolution, expertise can only mean better public and the threads which bind it together services and taxpayers’ cash being used are fine. Departments, arm’s-length more effectively. bodies, quangos, delivery authorities — Removing whole departments — staffed by fast streamers, consultants, particularly those that have overlapping and fixed-termers. responsibilities — makes sense, as long as Of course, it isn’t perfect. Here’s what it the change is genuine rather than a game needs: more and better-planned of musical chairs. innovation; integration of external Civil servants will resist these changes. But expertise; more dynamic leadership; mergers and acquisitions in the corporate and better comms operations. world show us how easily synergies can be But Cummings’ sledgehammer is not realised. the way forward. He’s talked about We should go one step further and allow abolishing a permanent civil service — ministers to fire senior civil servants more in favour of what? Political appointees easily. This would serve as a reminder that like the US? Fixed-term contractors? the taxpayers who pay their salaries are the Chief executives to replace perm secs? real bosses. It’s eye catching but shallow. Perfect for an election campaign, but unsuited to thoughtful bureaucratic reform. Read through the two interpretations above and using highlighters identify where they support the plan to change the civil service, challenge the civil service and finally agree with the other person. You have to read both before you start to highlight. In the boxes below summarise what both are saying.