Minister for the Civil Service

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In British government, the Minister for the Civil Service is the head of the Her Majesty's Civil Service, the role of which is to assist the governments of the United Kingdom in formulating and implementing policies. The position itself is generally held by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Gordon Brown.

[edit] Role of the Civil Service

Main article: Her Majesty's Civil Service

The constitutional and practical role of the Civil Service in Great Britain is to help the Government of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Government and the National Assembly for Wales formulate their policies, carry out decisions and administer public services for which they are responsible. A separate Northern Ireland Civil Service was created in 1921 to serve the local administration. Its present role is to support the Northern Ireland Executive in the administration of public services for which it has responsibility.

The Civil Service has no separate constitutional responsibility as they themselves are servants of the Crown. In effect, this means the Government of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly. Executive powers are generally exercised by ministers of the Crown, who are in turn answerable to the appropriate Parliament or Assembly. The Civil Service as such has no separate constitutional personality or responsibility. The duty of the individual civil servant is first and foremost to the minister in charge of the department in which he or she is serving. A change of minister, for whatever reason, does not involve a change of staff.

[edit] Organisation

See also: Cabinet of the United Kingdom

Cabinet ministers may each appoint a maximum of two special advisers. The Prime Minister approves all appointments and they are paid for from public funds. There are about 80 such advisers in the present administration. Their appointments come to an end when the Government’s term of office finishes or when the appointing minister leaves the Government or moves to another appointment.

The Civil Service Code, introduced in 1996, is a concise statement of the role and responsibilities of civil servants. It was revised in 1999 to take account of devolution. The Code includes an independent line of appeal to the Civil Service Commissioners on alleged breaches of the Code.

As of June 2001, civil servants constituted about 2% of the working population in employment and about 10% of all public sector employees.^{[citation needed]}

About half of all civil servants provide services direct to the public. These include paying benefits and pensions, running employment services, staffing prisons, issuing driving licences, and providing services to industry and agriculture. Around one in five are employed in the Ministry of Defence and its agencies. The rest are divided between central administrative and policy duties, support services, and services that are largely financially self-supporting, such as those provided by the Royal Mint. About 80% of civil servants work outside London.^{[citation needed]}

The Civil Service Commissioners are responsible for ensuring that recruitment to the Civil Service should be on merit and based on fair and open competition. The Commissioners, who are independent of government, produce a mandatory recruitment code and audit the recruitment policies and practices of departments and agencies to ensure that they comply. They also approve appointments through external recruitment to the Senior Civil Service and hear and determine appeals in cases of concern about propriety and conscience under the Civil Service Code.

As Minister for the Civil Service, the Prime Minister is responsible for central co-ordination and management of the Civil Service. He is supported by the Head of the Home Civil Service, who chairs the Civil Service Management Board. The Cabinet Office oversees the central framework for management of the Civil Service. Day-to-day responsibility for a wide range of terms and conditions has been delegated to departments and agencies, and to the Scottish Government and the National Assembly for Wales.