Abstract
This chapter attempts to assess the current role of the British senior civil service in terms of its traditional role in government and how it has responded to the challenges it has faced during the last twenty years of government. Challenges to the role of the senior civil service have come from a number of sources including: elected politicians who have introduced substantial reform of the civil service as well as exercising greater political control of the bureaucracy; a changing social and political environment which includes a more informed and con-sumerist electorate and a scrutinising media which has had the effect of exposing the senior civil service to greater public scrutiny; structural change to the state which has resulted in new decision making bodies to replace traditional government hierarchies; change to the process of managing and policy making in government which includes a greater emphasis on the successful management of public services as a primary function of the senior civil service and the inclusion of a wider range of policy advisers to politicians; and finally through more explicit and formal processes of regulation and inspection of government operations.
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© 2007 Charlotte Sausman and Rachel Locke
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Sausman, C., Locke, R. (2007). The Changing Role of the British Senior Civil Service: Challenge and Reform. In: Page, E.C., Wright, V. (eds) From the Active to the Enabling State. Transforming Government. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230288768_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230288768_9
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