The British Civil Service

Although it is seldom recognised as such by the public, the civil service is a profession like any other. The UK civil service employs 400,000 people across the country, with over 20,000 students and graduates applying to enter every year through its fast-stream competition alone. Martin Stanley's seminal How to Be a Civil Servant was the first guidebook to the British civil service ever published. It remains the only comprehensive guide on how civil servants should effectively carry out their duties, hone their communication skills and respond to professional, ethical and technical issues relevant to the job. It addresses such questions as: How do you establish yourself with your minister as a trusted adviser? How should you feed the media so they don’t feed on you? What’s the best way to deal with potential conflicts of interest? This fully updated new edition provides the latest advice, and is a must-read for newly appointed civil servants and for those looking to enter the profession – not to mention students, academics, journalists, politicians and anyone with an interest in the inner workings of the British government.

This first volume of the Official History of the UK Civil Service covers its evolution from the Northcote-Trevelyan Report of 1854 to the first years of Mrs Thatcher’s government in 1981. Despite current concerns with good governance and policy delivery, little serious attention has been paid to the institution vital to both: the Civil Service. This Official History is designed to remedy this by placing present problems in historical context and by providing a helpful structure in which others, and particularly former officials, may contribute to the debate. Starting with the seminal 1854 Northcote-Trevelyan Report, it covers the ‘lost opportunity’ of the 1940s when the Service failed to adapt the needs of ‘big government’ as advocated by Beveridge and Keynes. It then examines, in greater detail, the belated attempts at modernisation in the 1960s, the Service’s vilification in the 1970s and the final destruction of the ‘old order’ during the first years of Mrs Thatcher’s government. Particular light is shed on the origins of such current concerns as the role of special advisers the need for a Prime Minister’s Department the evolution of Parliamentary Select Committees to resolve the potential tension between bureaucracy and Parliamentary democracy. This Official History is based on extensive research into both recently released and unreleased papers as well as interviews with leading participants. It has important lessons to offer all those, both inside and outside the UK, seeking to improve the quality of democratic government. This book will be of great interest to all students of British history, British government and politics, and of public administration in general.

First Published in 1937, The British Civil Servant presents a comprehensive overview of the main problems and conditions related to the British public service during early twentieth century. It discusses important themes like what is public service; the administrative class in the home civil service; middle and lower grades of the local government service; the experts in the civil service; women in public service; the Indian civil service and the colonial civil service. With chapters written by experts like Professor Ernest Barker, Harold Nicolson, William A. Robson, this book is a must read for scholars and researchers of British political history, public administration, and political science.

An introduction to the historical development, nature, organization and role of the British civil service and an analysis of its importance as a political institution. The key precepts of permanency, neutrality and ministerial responsibility are outlined and a comparison made between the British civil service and other executives. The book also covers changes occurring in the civil service as a result of the Ibbs Report and the Next Steps Initiative, and looks at the relationship between Whitehall and Brussels. Up-to-date coverage includes the recent institutional changes and proposals for further reform.

First published in 1988, this book is about the application of moral standards in the course of official work in the British civil service. It approaches the subject by examining the career of Sir Edward Bridges, Head of the Civil Service from 1945 to 1956. The book raises questions, of major importance at the present time, about methods of work and the standards expected of civil servants.