The Civil Service Commission regulates recruitment to the
United Kingdom Civil Service, providing assurance that appointments are on merit after fair and open competition, and hears appeals under the
Civil Service Code
His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, whic ...
. The commission is independent of Government and the Civil Service.
The Civil Service Commission was established by Gladstone through an
order in council
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (''Kin ...
on 21 May 1855 following publication of the
Northcote–Trevelyan Report
The Northcote-Trevelyan Report was a document prepared by Stafford H. Northcote (later to be Chancellor of the Exchequer) and C.E. Trevelyan (then Permanent Secretary at the Treasury) about the British Civil Service. Commissioned in 1853 and ...
by
Charles Trevelyan and
Stafford Northcote that advocated the decoupling of appointments of senior civil servants from ministers to ensure the impartiality of the
Civil Service.
Following a report of the
Committee on Standards in Public Life
The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards of public life. It promotes a code o ...
, ''"Defining the Boundaries within the Executive: Ministers, special advisers and the permanent Civil Service"'' in 2003, the appointment of the First Civil Service Commissioner is made by Government after consultation with the leaders of the main opposition parties. They are then appointed by the
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
under Royal Prerogative.
The First Civil Service Commissioner is appointed for a fixed term of five years, although another Commissioner may act as an interim First Commissioner when necessary.
List of First Civil Service Commissioners
*Sir
Edward Ryan (1855–75)
*
John Pakington, 1st Baron Hampton
John Somerset Pakington, 1st Baron Hampton, (20 February 1799 – 9 April 1880), known as Sir John Pakington, Bt, from 1846 to 1874, was a British Conservative politician.
Background and education
He was born John Somerset Russell, the son of Wi ...
(1875–1880)
*
George Byng, Viscount Enfield (later 3rd Earl of Strafford) (1880–88)
*...
*William Courthope (1892–1907)
*
Lord Francis Hervey
Lord Francis Hervey (16 October 1846 – 10 January 1931) was a British barrister and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1874 and 1892.
Background
Hervey was the fourth and youngest son of Frederick Her ...
(1907-1909)
*
Sir Stanley Leathes (1910–1927)
*
Sir Roderick Meiklejohn, K.B.E.C.B (1927–1939)
*
Sir Percival Waterfield (1939–1951)
*
Sir Paul Sinker (1951–1954)
*
Laurence Helsby, Baron Helsby (1954–1959)
*
Sir George Mallaby (1959–1964)
*Sir
George Abell (1964-1967)
*John Hunt (1967–1971)
*
K. H. Clucas (1971–1974)
*
Dr Fergus Allen (1974–1981)
*
Angus Fraser
Angus Robert Charles Fraser (born 8 August 1965) is an English cricket administrator.
He served as the managing director of Middlesex Cricket between 2009 and 2021, before assuming a new role heading the club's academy
He is also a former E ...
(1981–1983)
*Dennis Trevelyan (1983–1989)
*
John Holroyd (1989–1993)
*
Dame Ann Bowtell (1993–1995)
*
Sir Michael Bett (1995–2000)
*
Usha Prashar, Baroness Prashar
Usha Kumari Prashar, Baroness Prashar, (born 29 June 1948) is a British politician and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. Since the 1970s, she has served as a director or chair of a variety of public and private sector organisations. She ...
(2000–2005)
[ ]
*
Janet Paraskeva
Dame Janet Paraskeva (born 28 May 1946, Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales) is a British government official.
She was appointed as the First Civil Service Commissioner on 1 January 2006. On 15 November 2007 Paraskeva was announced by Peter Hain ...
(2006–2010)
*Mark Addison (2011) (Interim)
*Sir
David Normington (2011–2016)
*Kathryn Bishop (2016) (Interim)
*
Ian Watmore
Ian Charles Watmore (born 5 July 1958) is a British management consultant and former senior civil servant under three prime ministers, serving from October 2016 as the First Civil Service Commissioner.
Early life and business career
Born in C ...
(2016–2021)
*Rosie Glazebrook (2021) (Interim)
*
Gisela Stuart
Gisela Stuart, Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (''née'' Gschaider; born 26 November 1955) is a British-German politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Edgbaston from 1997 to 2017. A former member of the Lab ...
, Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (2022 -
References
Further reading
*
External links
Office of the Civil Service Commissioners
{{Cabinet Office
Civil Service (United Kingdom)
National civil service commissions
1855 establishments in the United Kingdom
Government recruitment