EXTRA-Government Departments

Question 1

The civil service is the governmental __________

Answer 1

bureaucracy

Question 2

Although most government departments are run by ministers who are elected politicians, however what was the job of paid officials (civil servants)?

Answer 2

the departments are administered by professional and permanent paid officials

Question 3

What are the paid officials called who belong to the top administrative grades?

Answer 3

mandarins or collectively, the higher civil service

Question 4

Who is the top civil service also known as?

Answer 4

the Cabinet Secretary

Question 5

although the top civil servant is the Cabinet Secretary, what is there in a typical department? (4)

Answer 5

• a Permanent Secretary at the helm
• Deputy Secretaries
• Under Secretaries
• Assistant Secretaries, Senior Principles and Principals

Question 6

Why do the majority of the civil service staff in fact now work?

Answer 6

in executive agencies

Question 7

What are executive agencies?

Answer 7

these are separate operational organisations reporting to particular government departments

Question 8

What is Whitehall often used a synonym for?

Answer 8

the central core of the civil service

Question 9

Why is Whitehall often used as a synonym for the central core of the civil service?

Answer 9

this is because most government departments have headquarters in and around the former Royal Palace of Whitehalll

Question 10

What is bureaucracy?

Answer 10

this is a government by non-elected salaried administrative officers. In Britian it is more usual to speak of the civil service.

Question 11

Who are ministers generally supported by?

Answer 11

a team of junior ministers.

Question 12

in ministerial departments headed by a Secretary of State, who is the administrative management of the department led by?

Answer 12

the Permanent Secretary

Question 13

What is the position of executive agencies in comparison to ministerial departments?

Answer 13

they are subordinate

Question 14

What does an executive agency have a degree of to perform an operational function?

Answer 14

autonomy (self government)

Question 15

What is the executive agency which looks after prisons for the Home Secretary?

Answer 15

Her Majesty’s Prison Service

Question 16

What is the executive agency is linked to the Department for Work and Pensions?

Answer 16

Job centre Plus

Question 17

Who is usually responsible for the efficient management of the organisation and for meeting ministerially imposed targets?

Answer 17

the Chief Executive

Question 18

What matters do non-ministerial departments generally cover?

Answer 18

those matters which direct political oversight is judged as unnecessary or inappropriate

Question 19

Who are non-ministerial departments headed by? (3)

Answer 19

• civli servants
• Permanent Secretaries
• Second Permanent Secretaries

Question 20

What is the function of some of the civil servants who head a non-ministerial department?

Answer 20

strictly regulatory or inspection in order to protect them from political interference

Question 21

What are 2 examples of a non-ministerial department?

Answer 21

• British Council

- Assets Recovery Agency

Question 22

What functions do the executive agencies carry out?

Answer 22

they carry out administrative functions of government previously the responsibility of civil service departments

Question 23

How do executive agencies operate?

Answer 23

as a semi-autonomous agency at arms length from the sponsoring department

Question 24

What are executive agencies also known as?

Answer 24

‘Next step’

Question 25

Why are executive agencies also known as “next step”?

Answer 25

this is because they were first suggested in the 1988 report which called them a Next Step