The Civil Service: the Real Government?
Evaluate the claim that the Civil Service is the ‘real government’ in this country.
Bethan Boyes
Her Majesty’s Civil Service is a hierarchical, unelected organisation that plays an integral part in decision-making within the British political system. Operating discreetly as a highly functioning component of the core executive, the civil service is a permanent bureaucracy whose role is to serve and assist the incumbent government. Operating within Whitehall, historically it’s been the work of the civil service to carry out the legwork of government departments and act as secretariat for the ministers at the head of these departments, with duties ranging from organising meetings and taking minutes to advising on and implementing policy. However, for some time their role in the formation and execution of policy has been observed as undemocratic; it has been said that the civil service holds the real monopoly of executive control in contemporary Britain, and with the estimated 120 government ministers overshadowed by about half a million civil servants in 2013, the numbers alone lend weight to the argument (class handout).
The work of the government is divided between departments, with each managing a particular field; the Treasury handles public expenditure, welfare and taxation; the department of Health runs the NHS; the Home Office handles the police and immigration, and so it continues. At the head of these departments are government ministers (although the Treasury is headed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer) who are also cabinet ministers; known as Secretaries of State, they are formally responsible for the administration of their department and for the formulation and operation of the policies arising within it. However, despite ministerial authority, the bulk of the work orchestrated by each department is largely credible to the myriad of civil servants assigned to it, and not to the ministers themselves. With new policy and draft legislation frequently
Bethan Boyes
Her Majesty’s Civil Service is a hierarchical, unelected organisation that plays an integral part in decision-making within the British political system. Operating discreetly as a highly functioning component of the core executive, the civil service is a permanent bureaucracy whose role is to serve and assist the incumbent government. Operating within Whitehall, historically it’s been the work of the civil service to carry out the legwork of government departments and act as secretariat for the ministers at the head of these departments, with duties ranging from organising meetings and taking minutes to advising on and implementing policy. However, for some time their role in the formation and execution of policy has been observed as undemocratic; it has been said that the civil service holds the real monopoly of executive control in contemporary Britain, and with the estimated 120 government ministers overshadowed by about half a million civil servants in 2013, the numbers alone lend weight to the argument (class handout).
The work of the government is divided between departments, with each managing a particular field; the Treasury handles public expenditure, welfare and taxation; the department of Health runs the NHS; the Home Office handles the police and immigration, and so it continues. At the head of these departments are government ministers (although the Treasury is headed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer) who are also cabinet ministers; known as Secretaries of State, they are formally responsible for the administration of their department and for the formulation and operation of the policies arising within it. However, despite ministerial authority, the bulk of the work orchestrated by each department is largely credible to the myriad of civil servants assigned to it, and not to the ministers themselves. With new policy and draft legislation frequently
References: ‘Vast power to civil servants’ quote, date accessed 05.03.14 –www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/feb/05/ministers-change-jobs-too-often-whitehall Ponting, 1986, pp.14 Williams, 1972, pp.353 Williams, 1972, pp.353