Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010

The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act was passed, with cross-party support, in April 2010.  The Act enshrines the core values of the Civil Service in legislation and puts the Civil Service Commissioners, and the important work we do on a statutory footing.

 

The Commissioners have long believed that the constitutional postiion of the Civil Service,and the core values that underpin its work, deserve the protection of statute.  This was the conclusion that Northcote and Trevelyan reached in their landmark report of 1854 which led to the creation of the Civil Service Commissioners. 

More recently the Commissioners supported calls for a Civil Service Act in evidence to the Parliamentary Administration Select Committee and to the Joint Parliamentary Committee that considered the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill. The Civil Service provisions in Part One of the new Act derive from that process.

 

The main provisions of Part One of the Act are as follows:

 

• Provides a definition of who is a civil servant
• Enshrines the core values of the Civil Service: integrity; honesty; objectivity; and impartiality
• Places an obligation on the Minister for the Civil Service to publish a Civil Service Code that requires civil servants to carry out their duties in line with these values
• Requires the selection for appointment to the Civil Service to be on merit on the basis of fair and open competition
• Establishes the Civil Service Commission as a body corporate, so reinforcing its independence from the government of the day, with the role of:
• Regulating recruitment to the Civil Service, principally through:
• Publication of Recruitment Principles, that specify the Commission's determination of what selection on merit on the basis of fair and open competition means and when exceptions to the principle may be allowed
• Hearing and determining complaints from anyone who believes that here has been a breach of the Recruitment Principles
• Reviews of recruitment policies and practices to ensure that the principle of selection on merit on the basis of fair and open competition is being applied and that compliance with the Recruitment Principles is not being undermined
• Hearing and determining complaints from civil servants who believe that there has been a breach of the Civil Service Code
• Reporting publicly on the exercise of these functions
• Provides for the Minister for the Civil Service and the Commission to agree to the Commission taking on additional functions in relation to the Civil Service
• Formalises the current arrangements for Special Advisers as civil servants:
• Excepted from the principle of selection on merit as personal appointees of Ministers
• Excepted from the provisions on impartiality and objectivity recognising their allegiance is to the Governing party and that they are not expected to retain the confidence of future administrations
• Appointed for the sole purpose of assisting Ministers, and therefore not permitted to exercise executive powers over civil servants
• Governed by a Code of Conduct which the Minister for the Civil Service is obliged to publish

The Civil Service Commissioners are working with the Cabinet Office on the practicalities of implementing the provisions of Part One of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

 

The Act provides for the creation of a statutory Civil Service Commission as a body corporate.  The Government has indicated its intention is to bring this part of the Act into force by the end of 2010.

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