The Eleventh Report from the Expenditure Committee: The Civil Service
| Date | 01 January 1978 |
| Published date | 01 January 1978 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1978.tb00786.x |
REPORTS
OF
COMMITTEES
THE
ELEVENTH
REPORT
FROM
THE
EXPENDITURE
COMMITTEE:
THE
CIVIL SERVICE
REPORTS on aspects
of
the civil service and, more generally, on the
structure and organisation
of
the service are nothing new. There have
been
no less than three Royal Commissions
since
the famous North-
cute-Trevelyan Report
of
1854
and there have been numerous
committees
of
inquiry.’ The last report, which embraced a wide
range
of
public service issues,
was
in
1968
when the Fulton Committee
published its findings after
two
to three years
of
research.’
In
general,
inquiries and commissions have
been
set
up
by government and
usually there has been a definite reason for their establishment.
A
particular problem may have arisen, as for example
in
1860
in rela-
tion to methods
of
appointment,3 or a more general disquiet may have
existed,
as
for example over the handling
of
a foreign war.‘
In
these
two respects the Eleventh Report of the House of Commons Select
Committee on Expenditure5 on the effectiveness and efficiency of
the civil service
is
notable. The report is the first investigation into
the public service by a parliamentary as distinct from governmental
committee
for
104
years6 and, secondly, on the face
of
things,
there
is
no indication why the select committee chose to initiate its
investigation. The former consideration is
of
some importance because
it represents an attempt by
a
Commons’ select committee on its
own
initiative to probe and influence matters which lie at the centre of
executive power
and,
ndably,
in
this context, the committee recum-
mends
a
continuing parliamentary review
of
the service.‘ The latter
consideration is also of some importance because
it
means that there
is no particular focus to the committee’s inquiry except
a
general
one stemming from the expenditure committee’s over-all remit to look
at
papers and estimates on expenditure and to examine the policy
that lies behind them.8 While any number
of
speculative reasons
for
the inquiry might be put forward, two, in particular, perhaps deserve
For
a brief account
of
reports and inquiries relating to the civil service, see
Fulton Committee on the Civil Service
1968,
Cmnd.
3638,
Vol.
3
(2)
Evidence, p.
423.
Select Committee on Civil Service Appointments
(1860).
The
strains imposed
on
the service by the First World War resulted in the estab-
lishment of several inquiries as soon as the war ended. A public outcry about the
mismanagement
of
the Crimean War led to the implementation
of
many of the
NorthcoteTrevelyan Commission’s proposals.
Eleventh Report from the Expenditure Committee, H.C.
535,
Vol.
I
Report: see
also,
Vol.
I1
(Parts
I
and
11)
Minutes
of
Evidence and
Vol.
111
Appendices.
The
report though in the name
of
the parent committee was written by the nine-man
General Sub-committee. The security service, the foreign service and the Northern
Ireland civil service were omitted from the field
of
inquiry. The issue of open govern-
ment was intentionally left virtually undiscussed
as
well. See,
Report,
para.
2.
6
Since a select committee inquired into civil service expenditure in
1873.
7
Report, para.
1.
8
See House
of
Commons
S.
0.
87.
2 Fulton Committee on Civil Service, Vol. 1, Report.
51
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