CivilServiceCommissioners.gov.uk
Title
Civil Service Commissioners | Home
Description
30/01/06 - The Commissioners’ written evidence to PASC in response to their inquiry ‘Politics and Administration: Ministers and Civil Servants’
The Civil Service Commissioners : A Brief History
The 19th Century reform movement criticised the then current system of patronage, purchase and favour, under which either the Minister of the department or the Patronage Secretary of the Treasury nominated candidates for appointment to posts in the Civil Service. In 1854 the Northcote-Trevelyan Report on the organisation of the permanent Civil Service identified patronage as one of the main reasons for the Service's endemic inefficiency and public disrepute. It recommended open competitive examination to test merit. In the following year the first Civil Service Commissioners were appointed to run the examinations and to give approval for the appointment of those duly qualified.
The Commissioners quickly set up an office - the Civil Service Commission - and recruited the necessary staff. The years 1870 to 1920 saw the steady extension of the Commissioners' powers to cover virtually all appointments. Until the 1939-45 War, selection was mainly by specially prepared written examinations. Thereafter methods such as interview of those possessing appropriate academic qualifications, psychometric testing, and assessment centres were introduced to supplement or replace the traditional examination. The Civil Service Commission retained its independent existence as a government department until 1968 when, on the recommendation of the Fulton Committee Report on the Civil Service, it was merged with the personnel management divisions of the Treasury to form the Civil Service Department.
Languages
English
Logos
