Ministers, Departments and the Civil Service

1. Ministers, Departmentsand the Civil Service

2. A Panoramic View of WhitehallSeat of UK Government and Administration

3. Civil Servants are classed as servants of the Crown

4. Classic symbol of the civil servant – though few wear a bowler hat

5. Introduction • Governments everywhere are divided into departments or ministries - in the UK, many of these public offices have existed for centuries such as the Lord Chancellor’s Department and the Treasury. • Departments vary in their name and nature. 2 key types exist • Ministerial Departments (e.g.. Department of Health, Ministry of Defence, Northern Ireland Office, The Treasury) • Non-Ministerial Departments (e.g. Customs and Excise, Inland Revenue) • The structure of Government changes over time in response to circumstances, events and political priorities especially crises eg over NI, energy.

6. Departments are organised on a functional basis though some are organised on an area basis. C.20 departments including in the UK. • HM Treasury is the most powerful dept • Defence has the largest payroll • Health has the biggest budget • Foreign Office is a ‘prized’ posting • Territorial ministries – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Offices relate to the devolved administrations in each country • No Prime Minister’s Department but Cabinet Office offers effective support to the PM along with the Office of Deputy Prime Minister.

7. UK Government Departments Cabinet Office HM Treasury Home Office Department for Transport Department for Education & Skills Department of Health Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Ministry of Defence Foreign and Commonwealth Office Department for International Development Department of Trade and Industry Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department for Culture, Media and Sport Department for Work and Pensions Department for Constitutional Affairs Scotland Office Wales Office Northern Ireland Office Privy Council Office Office of the Leader of the House of Commons

8. Modern UK Civil Service developed from the Northcote-Trevelyan Report in 1854 and follows the Weberian concept of bureaucracy • Civil servants appointed and promoted through competitive exam and on merit though a historic bias in favour of public school/Oxbridge educated still persists today. • By 2001, women comprised 50+% of overall civil service but only 22% of senior civil servants. • Similarly, while 6% of civil servants are from ethnic minorities, only 2.4% of senior civil servants. • Politicians have little control over the selection of their civil servants. New Ministers work with ‘permanent’ civil servants that they inherit and depend heavily on their mandarins.

9. Many, if not all, Ministers are amateurs with little or no training nor specialist background for their job (e.g. none of the current Labour Cabinet had served before 1997 except Margaret Beckett as a junior). • Ministers have a tendency to get ‘shuffled’ and on average spend only 2-3 years in one post before being ‘re-shuffled’ to another post - or sacked. • To master the work of a department probably needs another year to make any sort of impact. • Who has the greater influence? The Minister or the civil servant? • The relationship between the two is varied and complex – as the TV series ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ clearly demonstrates.

10. “Yes, Prime Minister”Jim Hacker as Prime Minister with Sir Humphrey Appleby as Cabinet Secretary

11. Departmental Composition • Secretaries of State each head a department. • Within that department there are political appointments and official appointments. • The political appointments are comprised of the junior ministers, parliamentary private secretaries, and the special advisors. • Junior Ministers are appointed to help the Minister carry out the functions/duties of the department. Generally appointed by the PM. Parliamentary private secretaries are appointed to assist the Minister.

12. A growing trend to appoint Special Advisors (with political sympathies) emerged in the 1960s, but their number and influence developed greatly under Blair. • Appointed for expertise on a subject & supplement the role of civil servants. They challenge the idea of a monopoly of advice to ministers, being a version of the concept of a ‘kitchen cabinet’ of unofficial but unduly influential individuals. • Special advisers: • write speeches • act as a link between the Minister & outside world • are not MPs • where the Minister goes, they go • in 2004, there were about 80 ‘special advisors’ at a cost of £4 million.

13. Official appointments (of civil servants) • Departmental Permanent Secretary • Executive Agency Chief Executives • A Permanent Secretary is the permanent head of the department. Traditionally rises up through the ranks of Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and then Permanent Secretary. • A Permanent Secretary answers to the Minister except in matters of account, when the Permanent Secretary must answer accounting questions to Parliament himself. • Out of 111 permanent secretaries between 1945-1993, only 3 were women. Stereotypically male, Oxbridge educated, generalists as opposed to specialists – but they have specialist knowledge in knowing how the machinery of government operates.

14. Ministerial Responsibilities • In theory, ‘Individual Ministerial Responsibility‘ prevails- • Ministers are responsible for any administrative failure within their department, and for any injustice that it may cause. • Minister should resign if their departments perform badly. • The classic example of ‘individual ministerial responsibility’ is the Crichel Down Affair in 1954, which resulted in the resignation of the Minister for Agriculture (Sir Thomas Dugdale) and his civil servants censured.

15. In practice, resignations rarely happen because of civil service mistakes. Most resignations are for personal reasons (often scandals). Why? • Ministers cannot possibly know everything about their department – maybe know about 1% of everything that go on at best. • Failure and criticism, as terms, are quite difficult to define – uncertainty about what constitutes a real civil service mistake/failure/disaster. • Ministers who should resign might be protected by Cabinet colleagues for political reasons. • However, at other times, some Ministers might be scapegoated. • Creation of Whitehall agencies means that it becomes more difficult to distinguish between the policy failures of Ministers and bureaucratic failures of agencies.

16. Ministerial Resignations: Some Examples • Lord Carrington and the Falklands War (1982) – Foreign Secretary resigned after the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina. • Leon Brittan and the Westland Affair – Resigned over a dispute between himself as Trade and Industry Secretary and Michael Heseltine, Defence Secretary. Brittan resigned over the impropriety of his actions when it emerged that he had allowed documents to be leaked that were unfavourable to Heseltine. • John Major’s government was plagued by resignations adding to an impression of sleaze.

17. The Westland Affair (1986)

18. In recent times, the Prime Minister (Blair) has had an unfortunate record of losing ministers • Geoffrey Robinson (1998) – resigned over conduct while in office i.e. his business interests. • Ron Davies (1998) – resigned over his private life. • Peter Mandelson (1998) – resigned over conduct in taking an undeclared loan from colleague. Resigned again over Hinduja passport affair. • Stephen Byers (2002) – resigned over his Special Advisor’s assertion that “September 11th is a good day to bury bad news”. • Estelle Morris (2002) – resigned because she said – candidly – that she wasn’t up to the job.

19. Jo Moore – “Today is a good day to bury bad news”

20. Ministers or Mandarins –the balance of power • Top civil servants exert a powerful influence over government policy making. • highly educated • experienced and versed in Whitehall’s ways • access to information and able to control flow • well connected with outside interests impinging on the departmental portfolio • armed with detailed knowledge on departmental policy • more numerous than the Ministers • able to collude (informally) within and across departmental boundaries • security of tenure.

21. Additionally, several constraints exist on a Minister: • collective ministerial responsibility • constitutional power exercised by the Prime Minster to hire and fire ministers • individual ministerial responsibility • parliamentary party and party committees can sometimes provide awkward audiences for a Minister • EU membership • incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into British law • devolution of power to elected assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland • time - ministers have other duties as constituency MPs, media commitments and party responsibilities.

22. Will the real Sir Humphrey Appleby arise?Sir Richard Wilson / Sir Andrew Turnbull

23. The Civil Service/Servants • The UK or Home Civil Service, the Northern Ireland Civil Service, the Diplomatic Service. • 500000 civil servants, 3000 senior officials • Generalists not specialists – ‘talented amateurs’ • Ministers set the policy agenda • Civil servants advise on policy option • Ministers make final decision • Civil servants implement the will of politicians

24. Underlying principles • Impartiality and political neutrality • Anonymity • Official Secrets Act • Permanence • Osmotherly Rules - Commons Committees must not ask civil servants questions in the field of political controversy’ nor ask them about the policy advice that they give. • Secrecy - No Leaking in the public interest • The Sarah Tisdall Affair (Cruise Missiles) • The Ponting Affair (General Belgrano/Falklands) • The Scott Inquiry (the ‘Arms to Iraq’ affair)

25. Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy?Tisdall, Ponting, Wright, Shayler.

26. Concern over the behaviour of those who hold public office resulted in the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life in 1995. Seven key recommendations resulted: • Selflessness and acting in the public interest • Integrity – official duties must prevail • Objectivity – make choices on merit • Accountability for behaviour and decisions • Openness • Honesty and avoiding conflicts of interest • Leadership

27. Politicising the Civil Service • Did the Civil Service become politically partial under Thatcher? “Is he one of us?”. The evidence is circumstantial and inconclusive. • The Blair government has also been accused of politicising the Civil Service. • Today, Ministers use more special advisors than they used to - personally appointed by Ministers to provide policy advice and steer policy. What happened to 'inheriting Civil Servants' ? • Departments have now got to 'sell' the government's position to the media, compromising impartiality.

28. Reform of the Civil Service • 1854 – ‘Modern’ Civil Service formed based on the Northcote-Trevelyan Report. • 1918 – Haldane Report (departments based on function rather than area of client group) • 1968 - Fulton Report – leads to a new Civil Service Department (CSD) created responsible for all personnel matters and a Civil Service College (CSC) created responsible for training • 1979 - Efficiency Unit created - responsible for reducing costs & eliminating waste • 1981 - Civil Service Department (CSD) abolished replaced by Management Personnel Office (MPO) • 1983 - Financial Management Initiative (FMI) launched - identify clear policy objectives and test performance in relation to these. • 1991 - Private Finance Initiative (PFI) launched - to encourage the private financing of public facilities.

29. Michael Heseltine – would be great reformer of the Civil Service

30. The most important and significant reform of the civil service since Northcote-Trevelyan was Sir Robin Ibbs Report (1988) that recommended far-reaching reforms in the shape of executive agencies: • separation of policy from management • government sets policy but … • agencies with considerable operational and budgetary control would be responsible for management • a new breed of civil service managers would not be on permanent contracts like their predecessors, but be employed on fixed-term, renewable contracts with salaries related to performance. • 'agencification' of the civil service largely complete. • Over 130 'executive agencies' with nearly 3/4 of all civil service employees (e.g. the Public Records Office, Child Support Agency, the Prison Service of Northern Ireland, Social Security Benefits Agency).

31. The pyramid of power in atypical government department

32. Fragmenting the chain of commandDepartments & Executive Agencies

33. The Impact of Reform • The unified civil service has been broken up into a number of semi-independent units. • ‘Flexibility’ often blurs/diminishes accountability. • What of ‘Ministerial Responsibility’? • The Prison Service Agency and the Lewis/Howard affair. • Have traditional values (Impartiality, anonymity, secrecy, and permanence) been undermined by performance related pay, short-term contracts?

34. Is there too much nostalgia for the 'traditional model' of how civil service actually worked? • Departments have been criticised • Child Support Agency - for 'insensitivity' in dealing with cases. • Passport Agency – for delays in processing • Relationship between Ministers and Executive Agency chiefs is now a difficult/different one. • No turning back - further reform may be needed in the area of parliamentary accountability.

35. The Citizens’ Charter

36. Conclusions • In theory, ministers are responsible for policy and civil servants are responsible for administration. • In practice, a clear line of distinction between the two cannot be drawn – making policy and policy administration/implementation overlap. • In theory, Ministers are responsible to Parliament for their own actions and for the actions of their entire civil service department. • In practice, the principles of Ministerial responsibility are often breached. • In theory, civil servants’ role is impartial, anonymous, permanent, and protected by secrecy.

37. In practice, all four features of the civil service have been undermined to a certain extent, especially in the period after the introduction of ‘Next Steps’. • Recent events have exposed the need for a new Civil Service Act that would offer • clearer and firmer rules and procedures • a more effective code of conduct for civil servants • a right for Commons Select Committees to question Ministers and civil servants more closely about their work. • The Civil Service itself can expect to face continuing calls for reduction and reform by government of whatever colour • In 2004 - “Releasing Resources for the Front Line” published – the Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency by Sir Peter Gershon (CE Office of Govt Commerce). It identified savings of billions of pounds involving up to 100000 job losses. Whether such drastic changes ever occur remains to be seen.

38. Useful Quotes • "I do feel that there is a real dilemma here, in that while it has been government policy to regard policy as the responsibility of ministers, and administration as the responsibility of officials, questions of administrative policy can cause confusion between the administration of policy and the policy of administration, especially where the responsibility for the administration of the policy of administration conflicts or overlaps with the responsibility for the policy of the administration of policy” (S.Lynn & A.Jay, 'Yes Minister‘, BBC, 1982) p.176. • “The Civil Service finds a difficulty for every solution” (Lord Samuel, 1930).

39. Useful Quotes • “I think that the Minister who complains that his civil servants are too powerful is either a weak minister or an incompetent one” (Denis Healey). • “The most appropriate way to think of ministries in British government is to recognise both persistence and change; the former reflects the force of inertia and the latter the consequences of choice” (Richard Rose). • “Civil servants cripple an activist minister through overwork …. In a shady and uncontrolled intelligence operation” (Tony Benn) • “The Civil Service is too diverse in its activities and too vast to be managed as a single entity” (Sir Robin Ibbs).

40. Useful Quotes • “Civil servants, however eminent, remain the confidential advisors to ministers who alone are answerable to Parliament on policy and we don’t envisage any change in this fundamental feature of our parliamentary system of democracy” (Harold Wilson). • “It is the ministers who have the power of decision, the cabinet have collective power, and I have not experienced situations where civil servants, however high ranking, have tried to persuade me against my will to carry out policies we didn’t accept, believe in, or were prepared to carry out” (Edward Heath).

41. Terminology • Department (also known as a Ministry): • The principle organisational unit of central government, responsible for providing a service or function, such as social security or defence or education, headed (usually) by a secretary of state or minister. • Ministers: • The 80-90 most senior government member • The PM, Cabinet Members (Secretaries of State) • Junior Ministers (Ministers of State)

42. Terminology • Civil Servants: • Servants of the Crown (i.e. the Government) • Employed in a civilian capacity • Paid directly from central government funds. • The Mandarins: • Mandarins named after officials in China who were a learned elite, appointed on the basis of imperial birth, long service, illustrious deeds, knowledge, ability, zeal & nobility. • Today, the top 3000 senior civil servants (the First Division Association) have regular, personal contact with ministers, giving policy advice.

43. Terminology • Collective Responsibility: • All members of the government are collectively responsible for its decisions. • Members whatever their private feelings/ reservations must be prepared to defend government policy - if they feel unable to do so, they must resign or face dismissal. • Ministerial Responsibility: • Ministers are responsible to Parliament for their Ministerial conduct, the general work of their department and the actions or omissions of their officials. • Moral obligation to take the blame for major errors or mistakes in their department but resignations on such grounds are now rare.