The accountability of civil servants
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
1. Relations between Parliament, the Government
and the civil service and, in particular, the accountability of
civil servants both to ministers and directly to Parliament, are
constitutionally and politically significant. In the light of
the Government's plans for reforming the civil service and events
such as the recent cancelling of the West Coast Main Line contract,
they are also very topical.
2. Parliamentary scrutiny of individual government
departments by select committees is now over 30 years old, and
the rigorous questioning by select committees of individuals from
both the public and private sectors has been long established.
Recently, however, new questions have been raised about the personal
accountability of civil servants, partly stimulated by the renewed
energy of certain parliamentary committees, whose chairs are now
directly elected by MPs. These changes can be seen as part
of broader moves towards Parliament asserting its authority over
the executive. The Constitution Committee therefore decided to
undertake a focused inquiry into the accountability of civil servants.[1]
In particular, our inquiry was prompted by the following developments—
- the increasing complexity of government structure
and functions;
- the placing of the civil service on to a statutory
footing for the first time;[2]
- recent controversies surrounding the House of
Commons Public Accounts Committee's questioning of civil servants
other than Accounting Officers;[3]
- our own report last session on ministerial responsibility
and the National Health Service in England and Wales;[4]
and
- the Government's[5]
recently published Civil Service Reform Plan.
1 A list of witnesses is in appendix 2. We are grateful
to all those who gave evidence. Back
2
By Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Back
3
See for example the discussion at: http://whitehallwatch.org/2012/03/10/is-the-civil-service-accountable-to-parliament-hodge-vs-odonnell-spat-opens-a-can-of-worms/ Back
4
Constitution Committee, 22nd report (2010-12): Health and Social
Care Bill: Follow-up (HL Paper 240). Back
5
This report is focused on relations between the UK Government,
civil servants and Parliament. We did not seek to examine the
situations as regards the devolved governments and legislatures
in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales. Back
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