Administrative and Political Organisation: Sistema de Servicio Civil Del Reino Unido
Administrative and Political Organisation: Sistema de Servicio Civil Del Reino Unido
Administrative and Political Organisation: Sistema de Servicio Civil Del Reino Unido
social dialogue
The rate of union membership in the UK is much higher in the public sector than in the
private sector. The four main unions representing civil servants are the PCS (Public and
Commercial Services Union), Prospect, the POA (Prison Officers Association) and the FDA
(Association of First Division Civil Servants). The PCS claims to have 260 270,000
members in the civil service. The main public servants' union is Unison (1.3 million
members).
The Civil Service unions are consulted by the government (Cabinet Office and Treasury)
on issues which have civil service wide implications, an example of this is a significant
national agreement which was signed less than 6 months ago on a range of protocols to
minimise recourse to compulsory redundancy, otherwise civil service departments and
agencies operate in a delegated environment, and issues such as pay are negotiated at a
departmental/agency level.
1
Overview
UKreformscanbecharacterizedwithintwobroadphases.Fromthe
early1980suntil1997,reformsweredrivenbyaconcernto
introducecompetitiveandcontractualchallengesintopublic
services.Thisentailedastrongpushtowardsdelegationof
managerialresponsibilityresultingindiscrete,focusedmanagement
unitswithstrengthenedaccountabilityforperformance.Thisfirst
phasecorrespondedtotheperiodfromtheeconomiccrisisofthe
1970sandtheelectionoftheConservativeThatchergovernmentin
1979,totheelectionoftheBlairgovernmentin1997.
Thepost1997phasehasbuiltonthistowardsasystembasedmore
onpartnershipandcollaborationbetweendifferentpartsofthe
publicsector.Thefocushasshiftedfromoutputstooutcomes,and
thereisadrivetotakealongertermviewinpolicymakinganda
consumerviewinservicedelivery.
Themainelementsofthissecondphaseare:devolutionofpowerto
Scotland,WalesandNorthernIreland;reformoftheHouseof
Lords;FreedomofInformationlegislation;reformofmarketbased
structuresintheNationalHealthService;legislationtomodernize
localgovernmentforexamplereplacingcompulsorycompetitive
tenderingwithrequirementtoconsultlocalpeopleaboutthe
provisionofBestValueinservices,changingexecutivestructures
andextendingpowerstoplanforcommunitywellbeing;and
comprehensivelyreviewingallgovernmentexpenditureand
priorities,resultinginthesystemofPublicServiceAgreements.
5.2Ethics
There are a number of safeguards in place to ensure the integrity
of individuals in carrying out their public duties. The role of the
Committee on Standards in Public Life (known as the Wicks
Committee) is to examine the standards of conduct of all holders
of public office.
CorruptionPerceptionsIndex
Standard
Deviation
High-Low Ran
0.3
9.2 - 10.0
13
0.5
7.8 - 9.2
0.7
0.3 - 2.2
Rank
Country
Highly clean
11
United Kingdom
133
Highly corrupt
9.7
8.7
1.3
14