Forming a Government: Ministers and the Civil Service

What an election actually changes

The morning after a general election, the sequence is short and you probably know it: the leader of the party with a majority of seats is asked to form a government, or if no party has a majority two or more parties may agree to govern together in a coalition. That leader becomes Prime Minister and appoints ministers, the most senior of whom form the cabinet. So far, so familiar. Here is the part that gets missed, and it is the most useful idea in this topic. That process fills a few hundred political posts. It does not touch the machine underneath them. The departments those ministers walk into are staffed by civil servants who were there the week before and will be there the week after, whoever wins. An election changes who gives the orders. It does not change who carries them out. Almost everything else in this topic follows from that one sentence, so it is worth holding on to.

The people and the machine

Six terms your specification uses. Notice as you read which ones describe people who change after an election and which describe people who do not.

Post to what it is

Who stays when the government goes

A general election produces a change of government. The new Prime Minister appoints an entirely new cabinet. What happens to the civil servants in each department?

• They stay in post and work for the new ministers, because they are appointed on merit rather than elected
• They are replaced, because a new government needs officials who agree with it
• They are re-elected alongside the MPs
• The most senior ones join the cabinet

Ministers and officials

Two kinds of people run a government department, and confusing them is the commonest mistake in this topic. Read across the rows and you will see the pattern: one column is chosen, the other is employed.

True of the civil service

Select the TWO statements that are true of the civil service.

• Its members are appointed on merit rather than chosen by the Prime Minister
• It advises ministers on the options and then carries out whatever is decided
• It decides government policy when ministers cannot agree
• Its senior members are elected by voters in their local area

Why neutrality is the point

It would be easy to read civil service neutrality as a technicality. It is closer to being the reason the whole arrangement works. Because officials do not belong to a party and are not replaced when a government changes, a new minister arrives to find people who already know how the department works, what has been tried before and what it costs. The work of government continues while the politics changes above it. That neutrality is also what allows officials to give a minister advice the minister may not want, since their job does not depend on agreeing. There is a real argument here that you should be able to set out from both sides. Some people argue that a permanent, unelected body of officials holds too much influence over decisions nobody voted for, and that experience of what has failed before can shade into resistance to anything new. Others argue that the alternative is worse, because replacing officials with each new government would mean losing the expertise and the memory that make delivery possible, and would make impartial advice impossible. Both readings are held by serious people, and your specification does not ask you to choose. It asks you to explain the arrangement and to set out the debate fairly.

How the machine is organised

Government administration is organised into _____, each responsible for one broad area of policy and headed politically by a _____. Some functions are carried out instead by an _____, which works to a department but runs its day-to-day operations at arm’s length. The senior official in charge of a department is the _____ secretary, who is a civil servant rather than a politician. Because officials are appointed on _____ and not chosen politically, the structure carries on unchanged when a government changes.

What happens to a department

A general election produces a change of government. Put these events in the order they happen inside one government department.

• The outgoing minister leaves office when the government changes
• The new Prime Minister appoints a minister to take charge of the department
• The permanent secretary and the department’s officials remain in post throughout
• Officials brief the new minister on the department’s work and the options available
• The minister decides the department’s policy direction
• Officials carry out that policy, and the minister answers to Parliament for it

Where the writer stops explaining

Four sentences from an answer about the civil service. Select the ONE that takes a side rather than explaining.

• Civil servants are appointed on merit and remain in post when the government changes.
• Some argue that unelected officials have too much influence over decisions.
• Unelected officials clearly have far too much power and should be replaced by each new government.
• Others argue that replacing officials would mean losing expertise and impartial advice.

Accountability in a paragraph

A question asks you to explain who is responsible when a government department makes a serious mistake. Here is an answer that would score well. The minister in charge of the department is accountable to Parliament for it, and can be questioned about the mistake in the House of Commons whether or not they knew about it personally. That is the point of ministerial accountability: because ministers set the department’s policy and direction, they answer for what it does. The civil servants who carry out that policy are accountable to the minister rather than to Parliament directly, which is what allows them to remain politically neutral and to serve whichever government is in office. Some argue this arrangement lets ministers avoid blame for failures they could not realistically have prevented, while others argue that without it nobody elected would answer for the actions of government at all. Notice three things about that answer. It uses the specification’s own terms. It explains the arrangement before evaluating it. And where it reaches a genuine disagreement it gives both sides the same weight and stops, rather than announcing which is right.

State who answers for what

Assemble a sentence setting out the accountability rule precisely.

A new minister arrives

You advise a minister appointed to a department for the first time after a change of government. Take the decisions in order.

• The minister asks who in the department they may replace. What is the answer?
• Officials advise that a policy the minister favours has been tried before and proved costly. What should the minister take from that?
• A decision is taken and an agency is asked to deliver it. Who answers to Parliament for the outcome?
• A commentator says the officials really run the country. How should the minister respond in a way an examiner would credit?

Explain who runs the country

"After an election, the country is run by whoever won." Explain how a government is actually formed and run, using the terms from this topic, and reach a conclusion about how far that statement is true.

• Explain how a government is formed after an election, including what happens when no party has a majority
• Explain the roles of the Prime Minister, the cabinet and ministers
• Describe how government administration is organised into departments, ministries and agencies
• Explain what the civil service does, and how civil servants are appointed
• Explain why civil servants remain in post when the government changes
• Explain who is accountable to Parliament for a department, and why
• Set out both sides of the argument about the influence of unelected officials, giving each the same weight
• Reach a conclusion about how far the statement is true