Defining the Boundaries Within the Executive

Defining the Boundaries Within the Executive PDF Author: Great Britain. Committee on Standards in Public Life
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780101577526
Category : Conflict of interests
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
This report reviews the progress made in implementing previous recommendations of the Committee regarding the activities of the Executive branch of government and, in particular, the relationship between the roles of Ministers, special advisers and civil servants. It focuses on four of the seven principles of public life identified by the Nolan Committee in 1995, namely leadership, objectivity and impartiality, accountability, and openness. The Committee's report makes 34 recommendations which include: that special advisers should be defined as a new category of government servant distinct from the Civil Service, and a clear statement of conduct detailing what they cannot do should be set out in primary legislation, including having no role in the line management of civil servants. Other recommendations include a requirement for an annual statement to Parliament setting out information on special advisers including their number, cost and responsibilities; the creation of parliamentary powers to set an upper limit on the total number of special advisers; and the amendment of the Ministerial Code to clarify that Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister and to Parliament for the management and discipline of their special advisers.

Defining the Boundaries Within the Executive

Defining the Boundaries Within the Executive PDF Author: Great Britain. Committee on Standards in Public Life
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780101577526
Category : Conflict of interests
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Get Book Here

Book Description
This report reviews the progress made in implementing previous recommendations of the Committee regarding the activities of the Executive branch of government and, in particular, the relationship between the roles of Ministers, special advisers and civil servants. It focuses on four of the seven principles of public life identified by the Nolan Committee in 1995, namely leadership, objectivity and impartiality, accountability, and openness. The Committee's report makes 34 recommendations which include: that special advisers should be defined as a new category of government servant distinct from the Civil Service, and a clear statement of conduct detailing what they cannot do should be set out in primary legislation, including having no role in the line management of civil servants. Other recommendations include a requirement for an annual statement to Parliament setting out information on special advisers including their number, cost and responsibilities; the creation of parliamentary powers to set an upper limit on the total number of special advisers; and the amendment of the Ministerial Code to clarify that Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister and to Parliament for the management and discipline of their special advisers.

Defining the Boundaries Within the Executive

Defining the Boundaries Within the Executive PDF Author: Great Britain. Committee on Standards in Public Life
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Partisan Appointees and Public Servants

Partisan Appointees and Public Servants PDF Author: C. Eichbaum
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1849803293
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This comparative collection of original contributions examines the role of political staff in executive government and the consequences for policy-making and governance. The leading contributors reveal that good governance is about governments getting the advice that they need to hear as well as the advice that they want to hear. They highlight the importance of ensuring that the advice is appropriately responsive to the policy priorities of the government of the day. In countries such as the United States, and in some European democracies, political appointments to senior administrative positions are not a new development. However, in recent years a third element the political adviser has also become a feature of policy-making and political management in Westminster-styled systems. This authoritative work seeks to illuminate the drivers behind the advent of political staff in executive government, and the consequences for policy-making and governance. This unique book includes case studies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Academics and postgraduates researching in public administration and management as well as political science will find this book invaluable. Policymakers in agencies responsible for public service leadership will also find much to interest them in this important book.

Special Advisers

Special Advisers PDF Author: Ben Yong
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782254293
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Viewers of The Thick of It will know of special advisers as spin doctors and political careerists. Several well-known ministers have been special advisers, among them David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Jack Straw and Vince Cable. People also know about the public relations disasters involving Jo Moore, Damian McBride and Adam Smith. But what is the reality? What do special advisers actually do in government? Who are they, where do they come from, and why are they needed? This book is the most detailed study yet carried out of special advisers. The Constitution Unit's research team, led by Dr Ben Yong and Professor Robert Hazell, assembled a comprehensive database of over 600 special advisers since 1979. They conducted written surveys, and interviewed over 100 special advisers, ministers and officials from the past thirty years. They conclude that special advisers are now a permanent and indispensable part of Whitehall, but are still treated as transient and temporary. The book concludes with practical recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of special advisers through improvements to their recruitment, induction and training, support and supervision, and strengthening their accountability.

Handbook on Ministerial and Political Advisers

Handbook on Ministerial and Political Advisers PDF Author: Richard Shaw
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1800886586
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
Making a significant, novel contribution to the burgeoning international literature on the topic, this Handbook charts the various methodological, theoretical, comparative and empirical dimensions of a future research agenda on ministerial and political advisers.

HL Paper 166-I / HC Paper 551-I House of Commons / House of Lords Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill: Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, Volume I

HL Paper 166-I / HC Paper 551-I House of Commons / House of Lords Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill: Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, Volume I PDF Author:
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780104013441
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description


Investigating the Conduct of Ministers

Investigating the Conduct of Ministers PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Public Administration Select Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215515063
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
The post of Prime Minister's Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests was created in March 2006, and extended by the incoming Prime Minister in July 2007. Part of the new Independent Adviser's role is to investigate allegations that the Ministerial Code has been breached. This Report considers the suitability of the new mechanism for investigating alleged breaches of the Code. The creation of an investigatory capacity is welcomed as an important step. However, the Committee identifies limitations on the Independent Adviser's powers which cast doubt over the effective ability of any holder of the post to secure public confidence. The Independent Adviser should be free to instigate investigations rather than, as at present, being dependent on being invited to do so by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister should also undertake that findings of investigations into the conduct of ministers will routinely be published. Constitutional watchdogs such as this new investigator need to be demonstrably independent of those they regulate. The post of Independent Adviser meets none of the criteria associated with independence. The holder of the post, Sir Philip Mawer, has been appointed by the Prime Minister on a non-specific term of office which can be terminated by the Prime Minister at any time and on any grounds. He has no staff of his own, no office and no budget, but relies on the Cabinet Office for all these things. There has been no open advertisement process and no parliamentary involvement in the appointment. Until these defects are remedied, the Committee has difficulty accepting the suggestion that the new investigator can meaningfully be considered to be independent.

Special Advisors in the Thick of it

Special Advisors in the Thick of it PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Public Administration Select Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215049452
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description
The Public Administration Select Committee says special advisers (SpAds) should be 'men and women of standing and experience' with a legitimate and valuable function to play in government, but they need better training and support to prevent future problems and misunderstandings about their role and conduct. Ministers must recognise that they have responsibility, not just accountability, for the conduct of their special advisers, and actively ensure that they are fully aware of what their advisers are doing in their name. The Committee says that it remains concerned that this responsibility has 'proved to be more theoretical than actual' and says it cannot recall any minister ever resigning over the conduct of a special adviser, despite some astonishing cases. PASC says that the special advisers' role protects the impartiality of the Civil Service, by performing tasks which it would be inappropriate for permanent, impartial officials to perform, and helping to ensure that the Government's policy objectives are delivered, but that ministers must be able to justify that the tasks they undertake are in the public interest. Despite concerns raised by PASC's predecessor Committee more than ten years ago, the training and support for new special advisers remains inadequate. The Committee makes a number of recommendations including that the PM's Adviser on Ministers' Interests should be empowered to instigate his own investigations of potential breaches of the Ministerial Code, so that the Prime Minister is not able to protect his ministers from appropriate investigation of the conduct of their advisers, and that the PM's Adviser should himself be independently appointed and subject to a pre-appointment hearing

The Ideal of Public Service

The Ideal of Public Service PDF Author: Barry O'Toole
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135770999
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
A close examination of the ethics of higher civil servants in Britain and how they have been undermined by recent developments in public administration. Barry O'Toole tackles key questions such as: how should public servants behave? how should they be encouraged to think ethically? how should they be motivated to do so? Focusing on the role of public service, public duty and the public interest in the twenty-first century, O’Toole answers these important questions and looks at the emergence of ‘new public management’, the increasingly important role of 'special advisers' and the decline of the public service ethos under New Labour. The Ideal of Public Service explores some of the key contributions to the development of ideas about public service in the context of British central administration and provides a discussion of recent trends in administrative practice in the UK. Combining political theory and an analysis of the history and development of the civil service, this timely book will be of strong interest to those researching British Politics, Governance and Public Policy.

Draft Civil Service Bill,A Consultation Document

Draft Civil Service Bill,A Consultation Document PDF Author: Great Britain. Cabinet Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101637329
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
The basis of the UK Civil Service was set out 150 years ago in the Northcote-Trevelyan report ('The organisation of the permanent Civil Service', Parliamentary Papers, Vol. XXVII, 1854). The management of the Service has evolved over this time through a non-statutory approach, and the creation of a statutory basis to underpin the role, governance and values of the Civil Service would be a major constitutional reform. This consultation paper seeks comments on whether legislation is a necessary and desirable step to take in support of the core service values of integrity, impartiality and objectivity, in the light of the modern challenges it faces in the 21st century. It contains the text of the Government's draft Civil Service Bill, which would cover staff in the Home Civil Service and the Diplomatic Service, and other government agencies including the Forestry Commission, ACAS, HSE and OFSTED; as well as the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. The provisions exclude civil servants working in the Secret Intelligence Service and Security Service agencies, and the Northern Ireland Civil Service. The draft Bill contains proposals to establish a Civil Service Commission as an independent statutory body to uphold the principle of selection on merit through fair and open competition, although it provides for the continuing exemption of special advisers from this requirement. It seeks to clarify what special advisers can and cannot do, by redefining their general function as 'assisting' Ministers, and determining that special advisers cannot authorise expenditure, exercise line management supervision over permanent civil servants, or discharge statutory powers. Responses to the consultation paper should be received by 28 February 2005.