Britain's Modernised Civil Service

by Burnham, June; Pyper, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780333945339
• ISBN10: 0333945336
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-15
• Publisher: Red Globe Pr

Summary

This comprehensively revised replacement volume for Robert Pyper's popular text The British Civil Service explains and assesses the impact on the civil service of the historic Whitehall unitary model, the New Public Management of Thatcher and Major and the modernisation agenda of the Blair government. It provides a broad-ranging introduction to the civil service today and of the demands and pressures it faces from political leaders, policy-makers and citizen-users within the multi-governmental context of devolution and EU membership.

Author Biography

JUNE BURNHAM was formerly Senior Lecturer in European Government, Middlesex University, UK.

Table of Contents

List of Boxes, Figures and Tables	p. vii
List of Abbreviations	p. ix
Acknowledgement	p. xii
Introduction: Mapping the Territory	p. 1
Key historical themes	p. 5
Scope and size	p. 19
Some comparative reflections	p. 24
The book	p. 26
Perspectives on 'Decline' and 'Modernisation'	p. 31
The Whitehall model and theories of decline	p. 32
Network theory, governance, hollowing-out and the differentiated polity: further visions of civil service decline?	p. 45
Modernisation rather than decline?	p. 52
Conclusion	p. 55
Policy Issues	p. 57
Perspectives on policy and civil service power	p. 59
Squaring the circle? Constitutional rules on impartiality	p. 68
Four risks of politicisation	p. 75
The impact of special advisers	p. 80
Conclusion	p. 86
Multilevel Mandarins and Complex Structures	p. 89
From the unitary state to multilevel governance	p. 89
The impact of devolution	p. 94
The European and international dimension	p. 102
Conclusion: a network of civil services?	p. 118
Restructuring for Efficiency, Control and Delivery	p. 121
Restructuring for economy and efficiency in government	p. 122
Restructuring for ministerial control of policy and delivery	p. 125
Customer service and privatisation in the Major government	p. 131
New Labour: coordination and consolidation	p. 139
Restructuring for efficiency and service delivery	p. 150
Conclusion	p. 154
Accountability, Freedom of Information and Open Government	p. 158
Beyond the Whitehall model	p. 158
Modernising ministerial responsibility	p. 165
A culture of official secrecy	p. 168
Expanding civil service accountability	p. 170
Managing openness: freedom of information and the civil service	p. 186
Conclusion	p. 189
The Human and Managerial Dimension	p. 192
Recruitment of civil servants	p. 193
Qualifications, training and experience	p. 200
New people management	p. 205
The civil service as a model employer	p. 214
Conclusion	p. 222
Conclusion: The Modernised Civil Service	p. 225
Three views on the evolution of the British civil service	p. 227
Current issues for debate	p. 229
Interpretations and future directions	p. 240
References	p. 249
Index	p. 267
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