Editorial: The British Civil Service: inward secondments: cause for concern
| Author | Richard A. Chapman |
| Date | 01 January 1988 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207678800300108 |
| Published date | 01 January 1988 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
1
Editorial:
The
British
Civil
Service:
inward
secondments:
cause
for
concern
Recruitment
to
and
promotions
within
the
higher
echelons
of
the
civil
service
have
been
the
focus
for
attention
for
well
over
a
century.
Indeed,
it
could
be
argued
that
interest
in
the
subject
is
a
practical
implication
of
democracy
in
Britain
and
dates
from
about
the
time
of the
Parliamentary
Reform
Act
of
1832.
Patronage
and
corruption
at
the
recruitment
stage
were
largely
eliminated
in
the
last
century,
after
the
reforms
introduced
as
a
consequence
of
the
Northcote-Trevelyan
proposals.
Problems
of
corruption
having
been
resolved,
critical
attention
in
the
twentieth
century
focused
on
the
provenance
of
successful
candidates
in
the
open
competitions
for
the
administrative
class
and,
in
post-Fulton
years,
for
the
Admini-
stration
Trainee
competitions.
Other
elements
which
have
been
foci
for
attention
have
included
promotion
in
the
higher
civil
service,
as
reflected
in
the
recently
published
Report
of
an
RIPA
Working
Group.l
However,
one
subject
has
largely
escaped
the
attention
it
deserves:
the
growing
phenomenon
of inward
secondments.
True,
the
subject
received
some
attention
when,
in
1984,
Mr
Peter
Levene
was
appointed
to
the
post
of Chief of
Defence
Procurement
in
the
Ministry
of
Defence
at
a
salary
greatly
in
excess
of
the
normal
scales
for
career
civil
servants.
Students
of
Whitehall
and
the
national
press
discussed
the
appointment
and
expressed
disquiet.
Following
the
rumoured
threat
of
resignation
by
the
First
Civil
Service
Commissioner,
the
position
was
regularised
in
a
formal
sense
by
the
Prime
Minister’s
announcement
on
18
March
1985
that
future
appointments
to
the
Home
Civil
Service
which
took
the
form
of
secondments
from
outside
organisations
would
be
in
compliance
with
the
Civil
Service
Order
in
Council
1982,
and
any
regulations
made
in
accordance
with
it.
New
Civil
Service
Commission
Regulations
came
into
operation
on
1
May
1986
and
were
published
in
advance
in
the
1985
Annual
Report
of
the
Civil
Service
Commission.
The
revised
General
Regulations
re-affirm
the
principles
of
selection
on
merit
on
the
basis
of
fair
and
open
competition
and
provide
specifically
for the
certification
of
inward
secondments.
There
are,
of
course,
widely
held
views
that
flexible
arrangements
for
the
recruit-
ment
of
persons
of
experience
are
a
considerable
benefit
to
the
civil
service
and
in
the
public
interest.
It
has
been
argued
that
the
appointment
of
individuals
who
have
not
been
recruited
at
an
early
age
at
the
beginning
of
their
careers
is
a
bene-
ficial
opportunity
for
those
individuals
as
well
as
for
the
civil
service
to
gain
from
the
expertise
they
have
acquired
in
other
occupations.
Indeed,
from
at
least
the
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