WHAT PROSPECTS FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE?

The British civil service, a highly conservative institution, is at present subject both to spontaneous pressures for change and to pressures from the Conservative government. Change is necessary, including relatively radical developments, such as increased political influence over senior appointments. Current attempts to improve financial management in Whitehall are, as far as they go, on the right lines (though their longer-tern implications need more thought). But the government's approach to change is based on a limited understanding of what'management' really means; it ignores the difficulties of reforming established organizations without undesirably damaging them. Those who want to reform the civil service must develop a strategy as far as possible comprehensive and consensual.