What can UK public administration learn from the devolved nations?

an article by Richard Parry (University of Edinburgh) published in Public Policy and Administration Volume 27 Number 3 (July 2012)

Abstract

Since the UK devolved administrations first took office in 1999, they have asserted their distinctiveness and identity while remaining within UK norms and traditions of public administration.

Many variables now show a balance between institutional continuity and adaptive local practices, including:

• distinctions between the executive and legislative branches, and between ministers and civil servants;
• control of expenditure within the UK managed total;
• the unified Home Civil Service;
• the position of special advisers;
• professional networks inside government;
• public sector integration and joined-up government; and
• techniques of coalition formation and management.

Whether these amount to Scottish and Welsh models of public administration (alongside the clearly singular Northern Ireland model) is more contestable.

Generally the devolved administrations fall within continuing patterns of UK government, including recent concepts such as ‘public service bargains’, ‘everyday life’ and ‘policy bureaucracy’. The system has proved resilient even in the face of challenges to the UK constitutional order, especially in Scotland, where officials have advised the Scottish National Party government about their constitutional aspirations in the same way as they do for other policy areas, whether or not devolved.

Controversy over this role is a reminder that public administration is a third dimension alongside the politics of nationalism and devolution and the service-specific public policies of the devolved nations, and also a contribution to our understanding of adaptations of the Whitehall model.

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How to thrive in the new civil service

an article by by Jane Dudman published in Guardian Government Computing: Central government

Ten top tips for civil servants looking to adapt to future changes

The government’s civil service reform plan wants civil servants to be part of a pacier, more unified, more skilled professional service.

Here are ten tips for those seeking to thrive in the civil service of tomorrow: [detail here]

1. Be a specialist (but not too specialist).
2. Get some experience outside the civil service (but not too early on, and don't move jobs too often).
3. Get ready to step on the heads of those a couple of grades above you (but don't expect extra pay for the extra work you'll be doing).
4. Hone your skills in crowdsourcing (but don't forget that the buck stops with you).
5. Get ready for “rank and yank”.
6. Make sure your CV includes operational experience and get out of Whitehall.
7. Brush up on your impact assessment skills.
8. Blog, tweet and get on Facebook (but stick to posts about your labrador).
9. Get to know your Whitehall neighbours.
10. Practise what to say to Margaret Hodge.

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The Civil Service and Intergovernmental Relations in the Post-devolution UK

an article by Richard Parry (University of Edinburgh) published in The British Journal of Politics & International Relations Volume 14 Issue 2 (May 2012)

Abstract

The civil service, as an ‘apolitical’ actor, may supply a significant facilitating role in intergovernmental relations. This is especially the case in the UK, where even the most senior civil servants are not politically appointed and remain in office when their political masters change party colours.

Furthermore, civil servants who work for the Scottish or Welsh governments are part of a unified (British) Home Civil Service. As such they have been socialised in and respect similar operating procedures, which also encompass Northern Ireland despite its independent civil service.

These factors have contributed to oil (lubricate) and glue (hold together) intergovernmental relations. Experience since 1999 is of a civil service accommodating well to various kinds of party incongruity and of working successfully with nationalists in government. The unified service seems well-entrenched, including in a 2010 UK statute, and relationships at official level on financial matters have become particularly important in times of austerity.

In the longer term the ‘interdepartmental’ mode of working may be harder to sustain as operating procedures set up in a path-dependent way from before 1999 erode as more civil servants are externally recruited and contact with Whitehall departments is reduced.

It is even possible to envisage a reversal of attitude in which the devolved administrations value the civil service link to Whitehall more than does the UK government.

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