Departmental Secretaries: Appointment, Termination and their Impact

This report examines the conditions of appointment and termination of departmental secretaries in the APS and considers the impact of these conditions on: the secretaries themselves; the potential pool from which secretaries are drawn; and the likely continuing influence on the way in which the APS operates.
The report is based on reviews of the literature on the appointments of departmental secretaries and of the legislative changes made in the last decades. It also draws from a series of interviews with 20 past and present secretaries. The interviews were conducted in October and December 1996, after a number of secretaries had been terminated by the new government but in most cases before the government paper on public service reform was released
The report is divided into two main sections: the first section analyses the changing conditions of service and tenure, the appointment and termination of secretaries and pay and conditions; the second section analyses the impact of the changes under three headings and explores the future implications.     

The Department Secretaries:A Profile of a Changing Profession

The position of departmental secretaries has been under debate. There are claims they have been politicised; they have been placed on term appointments. This article examines the careers of departmental secretaries for the last 50 years. It illustrates the changes in their length of tenure, age of departure, mobility and qualifications. The recent profile shows the need for debate about the position and the future of departmental secretaries.     

Judicial Review and the Allocation of Health Care Resources in Canada and the United Kingdom

This article compares the significance of judicial review as a means for groups and individuals to challenge the allocation of resources in the health care field in the United Kingdom and Canada. It argues that judicial review can play an important role not only as a means of reversing decisions but also as a means of leveraging access to policymakers and decision making processes. The degree to which judicial review plays this role will depend, in part, on the structure of the judicial system and, in particular, on the existence of a rights tradition.     

An Invidious Position? The Public Dance of the Promiscuous Partisan

Public service mandarins were once largely anonymous, diligently wielding their great power behind the scenes while their political masters performed on the front stage. Things have changed. Today, civil service leaders are appearing publicly more often, in more places and to a wider range of audiences than ever before. This article examines the extent to which this decline in anonymity impacts on traditions of civil service impartiality within the Westminster system. It draws on the late Peter Aucoin's concept of ‘promiscuous partisanship’ to examine how contemporary mandarins in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia face accusations of having compromised their impartiality by advocating for the policy agenda of the government of the day. The article argues that what has changed is not that civil service leaders have suddenly become partisan, but rather that they have become more ‘public’, allowing for perceptions of partisanship to emerge.     

Where Have All the Ministers Gone?

The relationship between ministers and public servants has been a longstanding topic among students of Australian public administration. Recent debate has centred on issues of supposed politicisation and excessive responsiveness in the Australian Public Service (APS), caused, in part, by the weakened tenure of department heads (secretaries). The recent Moran report has little to say on this relationship. It endorses changes to the appointment processes for secretaries which are presumably designed to strengthen secretaries’ independence from their political masters. It adopts a view of citizen‐centred service and strategic leadership that appears to marginalise ministers. Its approach to public sector leadership is taken from international management theory that works well in a business context and in the United States (US) government system. It is less well‐suited to Westminster‐style systems.     

Departmental Secretaries: Introductory Notes

Termination and appointment of some departmental secretaries before and after the 1996 election triggered considerable unease within the Australian public service, not only among departmental secretaries. Yet the environment which facilitated such changes had been evolving inexorably over several decades through legislative changes, debates fostered by official inquiries and the broader context of change in the Australian economy and workforce.
A dispassionate review was called for to ensure that the important issues raised last year were indeed properly analysed, while standing back from the immediate emotions and avoiding any suggestion of inappropriate public debate between current senior public servants and the new government (and the new opposition).
I believe the articles offered in this symposium provide a major contribution to that dispassionate review, and hope they receive the attention they deserve from the parliament and senior commentators on public affairs. They not only dissect the issues, but remind us importantly of several decades of public administration history in Australia, the UK and Canada.
These introductory notes are not intended to express my personal views on the suggestions made, but to draw attention to some of the underlying themes and issues.     

Life at the apex: The functions of permanent secretaries in nine Southern African countries

The political role of senior civil servants in Africa cannot be differentiated from their administrative roles. An analysis of specially commissioned ‘diaries’ kept by 40 permanent secretaries or their deputies reveals that their roles include all the organizational functions described by Mintzberg. Their functions in order of priority as measured by time spent are ‘resource handling’, liaison, analysis/planning, monitoring, acting as spokesmen, entrepreneurship and dissemination. The political neutrality of permanent secretaries appears to survive in the sense of escaping party discipline. However, politicians and bureaucrats in. the countries surveyed both act as conservators and innovators. Environmental circumstances other than politics have the greatest influences on the activities of top civil servants. The similarities in functions performed are striking, given the different ideologies, colonial heritages and traditions of the countries studied.     

MINISTERIAL STAFF IN AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT

Abstract: This study examines the ministerial staff in Australian commonwealth government to discover what they do and how they assist ministers in achieving political control of departments. The data consist of interviews with ministers, departmental secretaries and ministerial staff. The study finds that ministerial staff offer policy advice in much the same way as found by James Walter in his study almost a decade before this one. But there does appear to be more emphasis on monitoring departmental implementation of policy and brokering positions within government than was the case in the earlier study. The study concludes that the relationship between ministers and their offices and the departmental secretaries is characterised by a conditionally cooperative approach, which is similar to that recommended by several public administration scholars.     

OECD Symposium on the Future of Public Services

The OECD Ministerial Symposium on the Future of Public Services took place in Paris, 1–6 March 1996. Professional Developments reproduces below the Statement by the Chair at the conclusion of the Symposium. The OECD comprises 26 member countries, including the Commonwealth countries of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It also now includes Mexico and the Czech Republic.     

The Governance of Fiscal Policy in the United Kingdom and Canada

This article analyzes the governance of fiscal policy in the United Kingdom and Canada under the Blair Government and the Chrétien Government. It seeks to identify whether the capacity of the core executive to steer fiscal policy has been “hollowed out.” The conclusion drawn is that in both the United Kingdom and Canada, far from having been hollowed out, there has actually been a strengthening of the capacity of the Treasury and the Department of Finance, respectively, to steer fiscal policy.     

Transformation or Bureaucratization? The changing role of community representation in local strategic partnerships in England

Abstract

The debate about the need to build social capital and to engage local communities in public policy has become a central issue in many advanced liberal societies and developing countries. In many countries new forms of governance have emerged out of a growing realization that representative democracy by itself is no longer sufficient. One of the most significant public policy trends in the United Kingdom has been the involvement of community organizations and their members in the delivery of national policy, mediated through local systems of governance and management. One such policy area is urban regeneration. Central Government now requires local authorities in England to set up Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) to bring together stakeholders who can prepare Community Strategies and deliver social and economic programmes which target areas of deprivation. This paper reviews the key institutional processes which must be addressed, such as representation, accountability and transformation. It then investigates three very different examples of LSPs based on interviews with key representatives. The paper concludes that political commitments to community engagement in civil society are always mediated through existing institutional arrangements. Thus attempts to change deep-seated political structures and power relationships require a commitment to increase representation as well as to transform the practices and repertoires of deliberation and action.     

In the Eye of the Storm? Societal Aging and the Future of Public‐Service Reform

One of the principal motivations for the reinvention of many central governments over the last two decades is the need to deal with chronic budget deficits. As budget surpluses reappeared at the end of the 1990s, the pressure to restructure seemed to ease in some countries. However, observers suggested the relief was only temporary, and aging populations would soon put more stress on government budgets, creating a need for further retrenchment. This article assesses the vulnerability of three central governments—the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States—to aging-related fiscal stress. Because of institutional differences, the U.S. government is likely to be hit hardest by this demographic change. This may imply that public-sector reform will take a different path in the United States than it will in the United Kingdom or Canada.     

Between Detachment and Responsiveness: Civil Servants in Europe and North America

The article shows that civil servants who believe that the long-term interest of society is best served by their detached policy advice to policy-makers also hold on to their opinion more than any other actor involved in policy development. However, more civil servants currently emphasise responsiveness, at the expense of detached analysis, owing to increased exposure to international consultancy and forums. As a consequence, the attitude of civil servants in developing public policy is more likely to be indistinguishable from that of actors who have political functions, without significant variation from country to country. Evidence supporting this argument is provided by an analysis of the results of a survey first conducted in 2006 and repeated in 2008. The two waves of the survey drew responses from civil servants, interest group representatives and non-governmental experts who contribute to biotechnology policy development in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and the European Union.     

The organizational cohesion and political access of business: a study of comprehensive associations

Abstract. This article utilizes an internationally comparative data set to examine the potentiality of comprehensive business associations to define and articulate the interests of business as a whole. We argue that the organizational structures of comprehensive associations - the degree to which they integrate diverse interest areas and they compete with one another- are critical to the degree of probable influence gained in a given country. Using data from seven countries - Austria. Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom - a concept of business cohesion is constructed based on these structural properties. Having differentiated among the countries in terms of the cohesion of business associations, we then relate these differences to variations in the participation of associations in the formulation and implementation of public policy.     

What the Secretary Said Next: ‘Public Rhetorical Leadership’ in the Australian Public Service

Every year, senior departmental secretaries in Australia deliver keynote speeches to a range of audiences. What are these secretaries talking about, and to whom are they directing their comments? This article will examine keynote addresses by the secretaries of the two key central agencies in Australia – the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and The Treasury – over the calendar years 2009 and 2010. I argue that ‘public rhetorical leadership’ by secretaries poses challenges for traditional understandings of Westminster governance. Utilising the concepts of public value theory, the significance of this ‘public rhetorical leadership’ is assessed in terms of its impacts on policy implementation and questions of accountability.     

More Open but Not More Trusted? The Effect of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on the United Kingdom Central Government

This article examines the impact of Britain's Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 on British central government. The article identifies six objectives for FOI in the United Kingdom and then examines to what extent FOI has met them, briefly comparing the United Kingdom with similar legislation in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. It concludes that FOI has achieved the core objectives of increasing transparency and accountability, though the latter only in particular circumstances, but not the four secondary objectives: improved decision‐making by government, improved public understanding, increased participation, and trust in government. This is not because the Act has “failed” but because the objectives were overly ambitious and FOI is shaped by the political environment in which it is placed.     

政府绩效视角下的行政管理体制改革战略反思——基于地方政府公务员的感知调查

改革开放以来,我国行政管理体制改革一直坚持以组织结构调整为主的模式.对于这一模式的影响,尤其对地方政府的影响,一直缺少科学层面的检验和理论层面的反思.本文选取政府绩效作为标杆,利用地方政府公务员的问卷调查数据,探索政府部门间关系和部门管理制度建设影响部门绩效的路径和程度,使用结构方程模型实证检验了行政管理体制改革战略在地方层面的有效性.结果表明,部门间关系作为政府结构的核心特征对于政府绩效并没有直接的影响作用,其影响作用是通过部门制度建设和部门文化间接发挥的;部门制度建设对政府绩效的整体影响要大于部门间关系.因此,在今后的改革中应该给予管理制度层面的改革更多的重视,通过局部的、具体制度的改革为整体的、基本制度的变革创造条件.同时,还应在改革过程中维护政府组织文化的凝聚力和激励性.     

Policy Convergence in Banking: a Comparative Study

The relationship between global economic integration and policy convergence in banking is examined in five countries: Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Focusing upon policy styles and modes of policy-making, considerable convergence in membership of policy communities and some convergence in the organization of state agencies is found. When it comes to policy networks, there is more limited convergence on a corporatist mode of policy-making in banking. Policy style may not be as responsive to international economic changes as policy goals, policy content, and policy instruments.     

Banking, interest intermediation and political power

Abstract. This article seeks to introduce the concept of political power more explicitly into the discussion of the organizational attributes of societal interests. In pursuit of this objective, it defines a set of empirical indicators of the organisational conditions of interest intermediation systems that enhance the exercise of political power. The indicators are illustrated through a comparative study of the banking sector at the European Community level and in five countries: Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The comparison of the banking sector interest intermediation systems shows that the power of banks in Germany rests not only on their equity participation in large industrial concerns, but also on a highly developed interest intermediation system, the most integrated of the five countries. The analysis demonstrates from still another perspective the close imbrication of the state and finance in France. Finally; the article demonstrates the deep fragmentation of the US associational system, a system that has acted as a serious obstacle to banking system reform in America.