The Civil Service

Despite the many changes of the twentieth and twenty first century, politicians continue to argue that the British constitution is predicated on the notion of Parliamentary Sovereignty. Indeed, a key theme of the 2016 referendum on EU membership concerned the need to reassert parliamentary control. Over time, Parliamentary sovereignty through party discipline and the growth of government has effectively become executive sovereignty. It is the civil service that enacts that sovereignty by implementing the will of the government. Government’s effectiveness depends on the nature of the relationship between ministers and officials. This relationship has often been defined as symbiotic – in that the extent of the interdependency between officials and ministers means that the effectiveness of one depends on the efficiency of the other. Yet reforms to the Civil Service over the last 40 years have had a significant impact, leading to doubts about the continuation of the traditional relationship in place. Such questions provide the central theme explored in this chapter, which sets out the traditional view of the civil service and before assessing the extent of change during more than three decades of reform. To contextualise this debate, the chapter begins by setting out the conceptual terrain in approaches to studying the Civil Service.