The British Civil Service: Current Issues and Future Challenges

by Janice Morphet

Overview

Taking account of its evolution in recent decades, this book provides an up-to-date account of the role of the Civil Service in the UK.

The book offers a much-needed re-examination of the function and role of the Civil Service and considers the ways in which it has changed in response to today’s pressures. It examines the changing relationships between ministers, civil servants and special advisers (spADs), as well as investigating challenges to the principles of the Civil Service such as service outsourcing, COVID-19 responses and Brexit.

Asking whether the practices of the past are effective for the future, this book is a vital resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of UK politics, public administration and public sector management.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529234916
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	06/24/2025
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Janice Morphet is a Visiting Professor at UniversityCollege London. She has over fifty years of experience in local and central government as well as academia and has written and researched about Brexit, Covid, outsourcing, devolution and public services.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: What is the Civil Service For?

Introduction

The role of the civil service: an international context

The civil service in the UK

Conclusions

2 What Kind of Civil Service Do We Have? The Structure of the Home Civil Service in England

Introduction

How many civil servants?

Tripartite structure of the civil service

Issues for the civil service as an employer

3 How Does the Civil Service Develop Policy?

Introduction

What is policy?

What stimulates policy development?

Who makes policy – ministers or civil servants?

How are policies constructed?

Conclusions

4 How Does the Civil Service Administer Policy?

Introduction

The context for the administration of policy

Administration vs implementation and delivery

Issues to be considered when designing the administration of policy

Determining the mechanism for delivery

Agents of delivery

5 Relationships with Ministers

Introduction

The view of civil servants by ministers

The view of ministers by civil servants

Has the civil service become more politicised?

Unwelcome intermediaries

Events

6 Devolution and the Role of Civil Service in the Union

Introduction

What is the case for devolution of decision making?

Relationships between Whitehall, Scotland and Wales before 1999

Policy differentiation after the Devolution Settlement 1999– 2010

Recentralising the state and muscular unionism after 2010

Civil servants in the DAs

Devolution in England

The future role of the civil service in drawing together the Union

Conclusions

7 Policy Formation after Brexit

Introduction

The role of the EU in shaping UK domestic policy 1972– 2020

International sources of UK government policy post- Brexit

What was the role of the civil service in developing policy and administration when the UK was in the EU?

The challenges after Brexit

What are the policy implementation challenges post- Brexit?

Conclusions

8 Civil Service: Weaknesses and Failures

Introduction

The context for decision making

What is the role of civil service in the failure to successfully administer government policy?

Corruption

Conclusions

9 How Does the Civil Service Survive Change? The Persistence of Power

Introduction

The Westminster Model

Multiple Government reforms but no change?

The UK civil service as a persistent political elite

Methods of maintaining power: operating the Core Executive

Methods of maintaining power: recruitment and promotion

Maintaining power: creating a lattice of leverage

Managing ministers

Managing outside Whitehall

10 The Civil Service – Forwards or Back?

What is the need for change?

Can the WM accommodate devolution?

Can the WM accommodate SpADs?

What will be the long- term consequences for the civil service of Brexit?

How can the civil service be focused on administration within the contractual state?

What are the possible tools for change?

Civil servants accepting the need for change in the civil service