IMPLEMENTING PUBLIC POLICY

Abstract

We have seen that the roles of civil servants can be categorised as involving the provision of policy advice to ministers, departmental or agency management, and the delivery, administration or implementation of policy. Our primary concern in this chapter is with the latter role. The implementation of public policy by the civil service has been affected to a degree by the creation of the Next Steps executive agencies, and the concomitant emphasis on ‘quality’ of service, epitomised by the Citizen’s Charter and associated devices.