How to be a Civil Servant

Introduction and Contents

Working in Whitehall can be great fun, and very rewarding. It is good to work to improve the lives of fellow citizens, you get to influence important decisions, and you get to meet some fascinating people, a good number of them within the civil service. But new arrivals discover that they are subject to a bewildering mixture of rules, procedures and guidance, whilst at the same time they find it very difficult to obtain basic advice about how to do their job.

The pages listed below address this problem by providing a thorough introduction to the duties, responsibilities and working practices of Whitehall officials. I hope that they will be found helpful both by those interested in understanding the British civil service, and by those embarking on a Whitehall career. You might find the following search facility helpful in identifying particular topics.

Professional Skills
Working with Ministers Ministers, and how best to meet their needs
Civil Servants An introduction to the species
Effective Communication What works, and when
The Importance of Presentation - not "spin"!
Submissions to Ministers How to get them to read your advice
Briefing Ministers How to prepare Ministers for key meetings - and the boring ones too
Ministerial Correspondence How to write the sort of letter that you would like to receive
Speeches It helps if your Minister has something to say ...
Lobbies and Lobbyists How to work with them
Fight the Fog How to write clear English
Plain English A useful list of plain words for when your brain gets stuck
Why them, this, now? A short guide to making an effective presentation

Developing Policy
The Policy Process What Process?
Effective Consultation Exploring Options
Impact Assessments and associated issues Impact Assessments, transposition, gold-plating, unwanted cosequences, and compliance
The Final Stages Navigating Whitehall and gaining collective agreement
A Policy Checklist

The European Union
The EU: An Introduction
Influencing EU Decisions Lobbying, informal contact and formal negotiations
EU Institutions The structure of the EU, and key dates
EU Legislation inc. codecision and comitology
Implications for National Policies Competence, free movement and all that
EU Detail EU Presidencies, Qualified Majority Voting, Monetary Union, Schengen

Parliament etc.
Parliamentary Business PQs, debates, statements etc.
Devolution .. and how to work effectively across borders
General Elections .. and how they affect civil servants

Ethical Constraints
The Civil Service Code Integrity, Impartiality, Honesty
Judicial Review The Judge over your Shoulder
Human Rights, Freedom of Information and Data Protection .. and how they interact
Conflicts of Interest Accepting gifts and hospitality; owning shares; recruitment and promotion; private sector sponsorship

How to get things done!
Innovation The obstacles to innovation and how to overcome them
Planning and implementation inc. overcoming departmentalitis and the fear of risk
Dealing with the Media Depart from these basic rules at your peril!

Leadership and Management
Leadership Remorselessness, honesty, commitment, empowerment and achieving change
Managing People Setting objectives etc.
Managing Money
Managing Programmes & Projects The heart of delivery
Managing Time Tips for procrastinators
Managing Meetings
Managing Negotiations
Managing Personal Relationships
Whose Problem is is anyway? Tips for when you are truly stuck

Please feel free to copy the material in these notes, for instance for use in training programmes. But please bear in mind that, although I believe that most civil servants - and most experienced Ministers - would agree with most of what I have written, I am equally sure that none would agree with every word.

I should also stress that the advice in these notes does not directly deal with the challenges facing the vast majority of civil servants who do not work in central departments, but carry out vital work in Executive Agencies and local offices. It also does not deal with the special circumstances of those working in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. I apologise to such colleagues, but I hope that they, too, will find the advice interesting, if only because it will tell them something about the working methods of those whose decisions have such a large influence on their working lives.

Much of the above text is available as a book, published by Politicos Publishing, a branch of Methuens. Follow this link to read some reviews. And Click here to buy the book on Amazon

A sister site www.regulation.org.uk has information and analysis about regulation, science and risk, including the growth of the regulatory state, the regulatory burden on small firms, economic and competition regulation, the regulatory failures that led to the 2008 credit crunch.

Martin Stanley's CV and contact details

Click here to access other pages dealing with related subjects. And please help me keep this website up to date. Please do tell me if you have interesting new information, or if any of the links stop working. Thank you.