Training Civil Servants: Some Reflections after 17 Years
| Author | Dennis L. Bird |
| Date | 01 January 1992 |
| Published date | 01 January 1992 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679200700113 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
70
Training
Civil
Servants:
Some
Reflections
after
17
Years
Dennis
L.
Bird
Formerly
Civil
Service
College
This
article
outlines
the
development
of
training
in
the
Civil
Service;
describes
the
work
of
the
Civil
Service
College
in
familiarising
its
course
members
(particularly
specialists)
with
rapid
changes
in
political,
social,
economic,
and
technological
aspects
of
British
Government,
and
offers
some
thoughts
on
current
training
at
a
time
when
the
Civil
Service
is
itself
undergoing
fundamental
changes.
The
author
recently
retired
after
serving
at
the
Civil
Service
College
for
most
of
the
years
1973
to
1991.
TRAINING
IN
THE
CIVIL
SERVICE
It
took
a
war
to
initiate
the
development
of
a
competent
public
service
in
Britain.
Corruption,
inefficiency,
and
nepotism
were
rife
in
the
early
19th
century,
culminating
in
the
disastrous
muddles
of
the
Crimean
campaign
of
1854-55.
In
January
1854
two
men
had
published
a
seminal
report:
’The
Organisation
of
the
Permanent
Civil
Service’.
They
were
the
Conservative
MP
and
former
civil
servant
Sir
Stafford
Northcote,
later
Earl
of
Iddesleigh
(1818-1887),
a
future
Chancellor
of
the
Exchequer
and
Foreign
Secretary,
and
Sir
Charles
Trevelyan
(1807-1886),
who
was
what
we
would
now
call
the
Permanent
Secretary
to
the
Treasury.
Their
report
called
for
the
efficient
re-organisation
of
Government
Departments,
and
the
recruitment
of
’the
flower
of
our
youth’
by
’a
proper
system
of
examination’.
Whitehall
was
horrified -
but
in
the
aftermath
of
the
Crimean
debacle
had
grudgingly
to
concede
that
something
had
to
be
done.
A
Civil
Service
Commission
was
established
in
May
1855,
but
it
was
not
until
June
1870
that
open
competitive
entry
was
introduced.
Revolutions
happen
slowly
in
British
government.
Significantly
absent
from
all
this
new
thinking
was
any
mention
of
training.
Perhaps
this
was
understandable,
for
government
departments
in
those
days
did
not
actually
perform
policy
functions
in
the
way
they
do
now.
They
did
not
pay
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