The civil service originated in the East India Company and was formalized in the 19th century. A 1954 report recommended professionalizing the civil service by implementing examinations, merit-based promotions, and generalist roles rather than technical specialists. Civil servants are divided into service-wide administrators and specialists, and departmental groups. Reforms since the 1960s have aimed to increase efficiency and introduce private sector practices through initiatives like Next Steps agencies, the Citizen's Charter, and New Labour's Modernising Government white paper. However, critics argue reforms have overly politicized and businessized the civil service at the expense of its traditional impartiality and public service ethos.

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’.