How to be a Civil Servant

Links

Here is a selection of links to other useful sources of information.

Government and Official

• The UK Civil Service website:- a gateway to much offical information.
• The UK Government's home page offering access to over 1000 Government websites.
• The home page of the European Union.
• Guidance for Civil Servants: an interesting and readable two volume Directory of Civil Service Guidance. It replaced Guidance on Guidance and much of the Heads of Department Personal Handbook.
• The Public Administration Select Committee regularly publishes interesting reports on, and evidence from experts about, the UK civil service.
• There are also further links in the International Section of this web site.

Training and Academic

• The National School of Government trains both Ministers and senior civil servants, and offers a wide range of courses for newly appointed and newly promoted Civil Servants. These include a number of courses which consider in some depth the subjects covered in How to be a Civil Servant.
  • The school has in particular set up the Big Learning Event - a rich source of articles, handouts, ideas, reports, web casts, stories and activities donated by partner organisations, professional bodies, universities and expert practitioners.

• Westminster Explained is the other major provider of civil service training in the UK. In particular, it offers a range of programmes which teach many of the skills needed for Professional Skills for Government.
  • Westminster Explained's version of "Big Learning" is the Civil Service Network, incorporating Whitehall and Westminster World. This is a very readable website and fortnightly newspaper which highlight key government announcements and consultations, parliamentary events, key issues within the devolved assemblies and major policy developments.

• The Public Management Journal is a free on-line resource offering twice-weekly email newsletters and a steady supply of thought-provoking articles. A "must-join" for anyone interested in central or local government.
• The Public Management and Policy Association: The PMPA is a membership organisation that brings together managers and policy-makers from different disciplines across the public services and provides a forum in which they can discuss public policy and management issues that straddle programmes and sectors and affect all managers working in the public services.
• CARR:- The Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation is a multi-disciplinary research centre working in three main areas:
  • Organisations and Risk Management
  • Business Regulation and Corporate Governance
  • Regulation of Government and Governance
• The British Politics Group is a nonpartisan research organization interested in improving the development, communication, and dissemination of knowledge about British politics. It consists primarily, but not exclusively, of academic political scientists in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries, notably Canada and Australia. Its web site has good links to other interesting sites.

Other Interesting Sites

• The First Division Association is the Senior Civil Servants' professional association.
• Epolitix.com is an interesting free-to-use politics internet site which aims to improve communication between elected representatives and the public.